In my last column, I decried the spreading of victimology – constantly portraying yourself as the injured party so as to avoid responsibility for what you say and/or do – throughout the nation, using California as an all-too-easy example. Well, as it turns out, some here in the Pacific Northwest are all too willing to join the growing cult of victimhood.
– Lets start with former University of Washington football coach Slick Rick Neuheisel, who was fired for violating gambling rules when he participated in a betting pool on college basketball games.
Naturally, Neuheisel has filed suit in King County Superior Court, saying he was wrongly terminated so the university could avoid an NCAA investigation. His attorney, Bob Sulkin, whose last name perfectly describes the crybaby Neuheisel, said the NCAA targeted his client in an unfair and flawed investigation.
Nice defensive game plan, coach: Blame everyone but yourself. Someone should inform Neuheisel, who has quite a history of fibbing over the years, that in court hell be under oath and thus legally obligated to tell the truth.
– Meanwhile, race continues to be the deepest well from which to mine victim status. The Puyallup School District has hired a diversity affairs director, whatever that is. The Bethel School District has done the same on a temporary basis until January, at which time it will be assessed whether to hire a full-time director.
These new ambiguously-titled jobs are the result of some parents complaining about racially-tinged incidents at schools in these districts. In the Puyallup School District, there were claims of assaults on minority students, racist graffiti and slurs. In the Bethel School District, there were similar accusations, including name-calling, students wearing Confederate flags and a swastika drawn on a boys bathroom stall.
Hiring a diversity director and paying out $7.5 million helped the Puyallup School District settle a two-year old civil rights lawsuit. The Bethel School District is hoping to avoid that sort of situation.
Without belittling the problems these schools face, isnt hiring diversity directors and paying out millions of dollars overkill? Couldnt officials simply have cracked down and administered some in-house discipline? Doing so would have been easier if it werent for the victimist hysteria that often surrounds any issue having to deal with race in this country.
Kids – especially high school students – can be cruel and invoke race in disputes, and thats not a good thing, but lets stop acting as if the Ku Klux Klan is holding meetings on school property.
