So we recently had Moose calling us more Conservative folks "Morally Bankrupt" and Laurie said we are "proponents of the prosperity gospel in life and healthcare"...
Thanks to my reading Atlas Shrugged I understand the trap that these comments set for the hard working productive person. People who are capable, independent, driven and motivated to succeed are susceptible to the trap, and Liberals rely on this.
It would be pointless to taunt slothful incapable people of low moral standing because they would not care, and could not provide what was needed if they did. So the goal of the trap is to appeal to the work ethic and moral standards of the producer to motivate them to keep working harder so others can take more and more. Ironically the producer / enabler can only be free once they decide to ignore those voices.
Since I am blessed to have many skills, am a workaholic and my nature is to assist people. I bought into the guilt, taunting, name calling, etc for a long time before I learned about "Sanction of the Victim" the hard way. If you don't remember the story, in 2004 I suffered a major panic attack in Paris France that set my nervous system bouncing between anxiety and depression. (it sucked big time...)
On the upside, it probably saved my life. I had been letting too many people pull my strings for way to long and was burning the candle at both ends and in the middle. And the worst part was that I had NO IDEA that I was walking on the edge of a big cliff... So this terrible experience made me aware of many things and gave me motivation to learn / change.
In the past I gave people permission to mistreat and demand things from me. (ie Sanction of the Victim) And usually my reward for doing so was more requests, guilt trips and little true appreciation expressed for my efforts.
Today... After counseling, reading, learning and some lively confrontations, I have set much firmer boundaries and learned to not let the comments of others control my sense of self, happiness, etc. By the way, my relationships are fine and I still help everyone. The difference is that I don't let myself get manipulated or guilted into doing so. If I am doing something for you or giving you something it is because I truly want to.
