The "I walked to school in the snow barefoot uphill both ways and survived, so quit whining" person isn't so much flaunting their weakness as, well accepting their ill-treatment as normal and unremarkable. They don't need to be more/less vulnerable, they need their empathy turned back on so they can, at minimum, make sure the kid has shoes to go to school. (And if your normal was no shoes, it takes effort to overwrite that programming and not pass it along to other people.)
Of course, then they will likely have a rather dramatic emotional reaction once their prior experience is recontextualized from 'normal' to 'severely dysfunctional.'
Real-life examples... well, look at all of the 'This is a slap in the face, /I/ had to pay back my student loans' arguments that come up every time someone mentions student loan forgiveness.
Weakness-as-excuse...
Look up Wounded Gazelle Gambit, when coupled with manipulation. Some people will also claim ignorance, stupidity, weakness, etc to get away with stuff.
Or research dominance theory, particularly the way a lower-ranking [usually physically unimposing, i.e. a kid or visibly frail adult] person can get away with a lot that an equally ranked person wouldn't. And there is also the Fawn response, which is designed to appease aggressive social dominants.
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dancing_serpent
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2024-03-31 01:28 am (UTC)The "I walked to school in the snow barefoot uphill both ways and survived, so quit whining" person isn't so much flaunting their weakness as, well accepting their ill-treatment as normal and unremarkable. They don't need to be more/less vulnerable, they need their empathy turned back on so they can, at minimum, make sure the kid has shoes to go to school. (And if your normal was no shoes, it takes effort to overwrite that programming and not pass it along to other people.)
Of course, then they will likely have a rather dramatic emotional reaction once their prior experience is recontextualized from 'normal' to 'severely dysfunctional.'
Real-life examples... well, look at all of the 'This is a slap in the face, /I/ had to pay back my student loans' arguments that come up every time someone mentions student loan forgiveness.
Weakness-as-excuse...
Look up Wounded Gazelle Gambit, when coupled with manipulation. Some people will also claim ignorance, stupidity, weakness, etc to get away with stuff.
Or research dominance theory, particularly the way a lower-ranking [usually physically unimposing, i.e. a kid or visibly frail adult] person can get away with a lot that an equally ranked person wouldn't. And there is also the Fawn response, which is designed to appease aggressive social dominants.