The Proliferation Of the Savior Mentality
The Proliferation Of the Savior Mentality
We often talk about the proliferation of the victim mentality in our society but we need to look more at the other side of this mentality: the savior mentality.
People need to understand that there is a relationship between the two. Victims need saviors in order to have complaints flourish and saviors need victims to become enamored with for personal gain, whether it be status gain or financial gain.
Victims point blame at others for their failures and saviors uncritically validate the victim's allegations. Frequently, saviors become the mouthpieces of the victims, whether they were asked to or not. They are hijackers of narratives, even bad ones.
Saviors tend to be elitists because they see themselves as being higher on the necessity totem pole and victims as permanently incapable. Their objective isn't to uplift victims, it's to stand in the front of a narrative as the hero of the misfortunate.
There is no cause too big or too small for saviors to cling onto. Whether it be dominating the conversation for a small demographic or believing they can (and should) force the rest of society to change, as long as they're given credit, that's all that ultimately matters.
Saviors love simplistic slogans to get people to follow them (on behalf of the victims, of course). "Let's be on the right side of history" for example is to get individuals to think about their personal legacy in the present for a possible change in the future.
When slogans don't work, saviors have no problem implementing guilt and manipulative coercion:
"Do you want people to DIE?"
"You want to be on the right side of history, right?!"
"You don't want people to think you're a bigot, right?"
The list goes on...
The point is that saviors don't care about the ethics of their tactics or even the legitimacy of their advocacy; it's just about them. Simply put, they are attention-seeking narcissists who will go as far as using other people's plights to elevate themselves for status or money.
What is alarming to me is that while people have convinced themselves that they are oppressed, these savior types reinforce this debilitating mentality.
It's like someone drowning & the "saviors" are pushing their heads back underwater while screaming for help.
While we are familiar with individuals who are saviors, there is a type of corporate saviorism as well. It's when corporations play faux outrage and use their money to "donate" to help an arbitrary cause.
The point is for them to get credit for "doing their part" without actually doing anything of substance. The reality is that many of these corporations throw their money for PR purposes and a tax write-off.
They find a non-profit with a nice name, send money & care nothing about the results.
Why is this considered saviorism? Because saviorism isn't results-oriented. It's a façade of care for others to elevate themselves.
For example, Microsoft donated 250K to BLM. Do you think they care about how BLM spent it or even the allegations of financial misappropriations? Nope. They wanted to get credit for "doing their part" with headlines like this & have people ignore any possible other misdeeds.
I could go into more depth but I plan to in my next book, hopefully, to finish sometime in 2023.
I just wanted people to understand there is another side to the growing victim mentality in our society.
Saviors are victim vampires as they feed off them for personal satisfaction
Spot on! Saviorism isn’t about actually saving people it’s about feeling good about oneself. Those who consider themselves saviors really don’t care about others, they care about their own feelings and status.
I’m actually gonna be submitting an article about something very similar. I think it’s vital to call this behavior out. Progressives love to view themselves as saviors but in doing so they end up viewing themselves as superior and everybody else is inferior.
This is a very interesting perspective, and I think you are correct!