My latest at PJMedia VIP. How it became bad to succeed and victimhood became synonymous with virtue.
The Embarrassment of Success
For those who believe “property is theft,” success as exhibited by SpaceX’s catching of a huge booster or South Korea’s prosperity compared to the north is prima facie proof of guilt. How could anything be so successful without diabolism? By contrast, destitution and dysfunction are irrefutable signs of virtue because failure is — to some people’s way of thinking — caused by victimhood. Recently North Korea blew up some of the few roads it had in rage at the unfairness of it all. Self-multilation enhances the virtue effect because the previously pitiable become even more so.