Let's talk about victim
blaming. One potential explanation for victim blaming is the just world hypothesis. According to the
just world hypothesis, people tend to believe that “we deserve what we get” and
“get what we deserve” in life, which leads people to blame many victims for
their suffering (Lerner, 1980). In order
to not feel threatened when bad things happen, people have to believe that the
victim deserved it in some way. In other words, if bad things can happen to
good people, everyone is in danger and most people cannot bear this thought.
Although I can understand the just world hypothesis on an
intellectual level, I fail to understand why any individual could hold a belief
in a just world. In the small town I grew up in, there were reminders of the
injustice so characteristic of life everywhere I went. My mother used to work
for an alternative school of choice that provided an opportunity for people who
would otherwise be unable to finish high school to get their diploma. One of
her first and favorite students was all set to graduate in a few months and had
recently been engaged. One Friday, my mom excitedly informed me how proud she
was that he had finally reconciled with his estranged father. Two days later, my
mom informed me with a stony face that this student of hers had been shot and
killed. Neighbors had seen another teenager come running out of his house
covered in blood, and police expected to find him soon although he was in
hiding. She wanted the news not to come as a surprise to me if other students
were talking about the tragedy the next morning.
In actuality, what surprised me the next morning was how the
students were acting. No one could accept the idea that he had been shot in his
own home by one of his friends. The concept was just too frightening. People
started saying it must have been his own fault, that he probably committed
suicide. When that explanation wasn’t plausible enough, a new rumor started
that he had been playing Russian roulette. I heard people who had never known
him degrade and berate what remained of his reputation to make themselves feel
less afraid, even though from the entrance wound there was no way he could have
shot himself. The killer later wrote a confession letter to the victim’s
parents, and even then the cops didn’t arrest him. The idea that my mom’s
student had somehow brought this on himself had become prevalent amongst the
cops too, despite all of the evidence. The police listed his death as a
suicide, and I spent the rest of the year sitting across from the killer in one
of my classes.
There’s no such thing as a just world folks. Feel lucky your
life isn’t worse and just deal with it.
(n = 482)
Lerner, M. J. (1980). The
belief in a just world: A fundamental delusion. New York:
Plenum.
That is such a terrible, sad story! Even knowing about the just world hypothesis, it's hard to believe that something like that would happen. With my knowledge of the just world hypothesis, I would almost expect the students to create rumors saying he had done something stupid that lead to his death (like playing Russian roulette), but I was so shocked that even after the killer's confession, his death was still said to be a suicide. May he rest in peace and his family's pain be eased.
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