Do you think it is weird when people stage their own victimization?

Yes it is wierd. Some people will do anything for attention I guess.

It is a great way to justify starting wars.

I’m sure there are similarities in these cases, but I’m not sure that the motives are always identical. Someone who is already famous like Jussie Smollett may realize that being a victim is a way to boost your career and notoriety because we live in a society where victimhood is prized and esteemed and seen as very, very interesting. Now maybe in the other cases, career isn’t a factor, but people like the attention that being a victim gives you, sort of like Munchausen syndrome but with hate instead of illness. Maybe some are simply trying to smear a group of people they don’t like and the attention on them as an individual isn’t as important as blame on the people who perpetrated the “attack”.

I think people do it all the time, routinely, just not on that scale. It’s the basis of a lot of interactions in some families, and in some cases it’s like a second career.

I realize this isn’t quite what you’re talking about, @josie, but I do think it’s only a matter of degree. Everyone has experienced injustice of some sort. And some people will parlay those setbacks into their self-definitions and their models of interaction in the world.

You mean that every family has a drama queen / king or two @Jeruba? I know I do. Lord, it’s like the end of the world on a regular basis.

Factitious Disorder Imposed on Self, it used to be called Munchausen Syndrome.

I thought Munchasausen’s was when people(usually women) caused others (mostly children) to be constantly sick so the person would be viewed as the saviors for pulling them back from the brink of death all of the time.

That is Munchausen syndrome by proxy !

Yes, this could be called “Smollett syndrome”. “Smollett syndrome by proxy” would be perpetrating hate crimes on someone else for the attention they get (and your role as comforter in their victimized state).

I think people do it all the time, routinely, just not on that scale.

That’s what I see. On the low end, it’s a kid acting sick to avoid a test at school, or an adult convincing themselves that their little sniffle is enough stay home from work.

Moving up from there we get the mobsters and dictators who show up in wheelchairs when they’re made to face justice in court.

@Call_Me_Jay Ya think ! ! !

Thanks TW. I stand corrected.

I think it’s beyond weird. I see it as some sort of mental disorder. Obviously, there are varying degrees of this sort of thing, from small things to get the attention of friends and family, to doing it on a large scale in a very public manner.

I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night telling such grandious lies. I see it as part of compulsive or patholigical lying, and a lack of conscience. Again, I don’t see it as totally black and white, but there is a line that gets crossed where the behavior is so chronic, or so extreme, that it’s way outside of normal in my opinion.

Not that my opinion really carries much weight. I’m not a psychiatric professional or anything.

@JLeslie It is a mental disorder ! I work in a Psychiatric Hospital in college while getting a degree in Psychology; we had two patients with Munchausen Syndrome!

@Tropical_Willie I had always thought of that as causing physical harm, but I guess it can be applied to this sort of thing also.

They cause physical harm but then save the day @JLeslie. The deliberate causing of physical harm then saving the day makes it a psychological issue.

Isn’t it just a cry for attention?

I would say it is odd, but not anomalous.

My niece “hurt” her head once,at a party. She was inconsolable. I gave her an ice pack. She cheered up immediately, and seemed to enjoy walking around with the ice pack on her head, and getting lots of attention.

As in many cases, some people want attention. What kind of attention isn’t that relevant. Some, seem to get the same “fix” from winning a trophy, as they do from being carried off of the field.

I admit though, that in a world full of real tragedies, it’s just sad that people manufacture some problems. Especially when the concoction can have real consequences in reality.

To go on TV, waste tax payers money, take police efforts away from helping others, and to harm victims of real hate crimes. It’s simply unconscionable. He should have to pay a fine to the police department, and be ordered to psychiatric care and have to pay for that too.

What kind of attention do you think they want @stanleybmanly?

Well sympathetic attention if that’s what you’re asking. I suppose you might view it as a bid for popularity. Our President does it as a matter of routine. Cohen at this very moment is testifying that Trump has for decades claimed a net worth 10 times his actual worth.

Well, I’m not even sure what I’m asking. So many times we hear, “It was a cry for help,” or “a cry for attention…”—and for the first time I’m wondering if it will ever be enough? Is there a certain kind of attention that someone else,or the world, could give them that would heal them? What if people had been trying to “help” that person for years, but it wasn’t the right kind or something?

That’s my point. There are those like the President who do it habitually, while others might come up with such a stunt as a one time solution for publicity.