Backwards Blame (victim blaming)

There are few things that frustrate me more than victim blaming. I am not talking about blaming a rape victim, though that makes no sense to me. I am talking about blaming someone who has a condition like diabetes.

Recently, someone posted about how they were being blamed for their diabetes. I made a comment about how their dress was too short, and they deleted me from their friend list on FaceBook. Though I find their reaction disproportionate to my statement, the anger they felt in regards to being blamed for a condition they have had since birth is fair.

I dated a girl with type-one diabetes for years. I watched the literal high’s and low’s that come with such a condition, and I know how hard it can be to manage. Now, I say “I know”, but really I just witnessed. I OBVIOUSLY have no idea how stressful that whole situation is for the person living it, I just know how hard it could be for a third-party.

I DIGRESS! My point is that she did not do anything to become diabetic. She had been since the age of one, and became that way POSSIBLY due to a fever that broke her… sugar regulator.. yeah! That’s a thing!

To blame the victim of a condition is just as bad as blaming a rape victim. They have no control, or say, in how everything goes and/or went. Even in instances where there is a vaccination or treatment that someone could have taken, ten points says that they aren’t the only one who didn’t take it but they are the only person who got the condition.

OR: ALTERNATE TAKE!

I did get the meningitis vaccine, and I still got sick. A friend of mine didn’t, got sick with the kind of meningitis that kills, survived that, then got a similar thing to what I got. SURPRISE! IT’S SURVIVABLE!

My end point is this: shut the fuck up unless you can definitively offer some sort of assistance. Those of us with some sort of condition or that have been through some sort of tragedy know what we have been through. We don’t need to be reminded, talked down to, or guilted for what has happened. We aren’t hero’s, we aren’t villains, we aren’t in need of pity.