When Did “Victim” Become a Bad Word?
Recognising that someone is a victim, being a victim—that is, someone who is, or has been, hurt—isn’t an insult?
Complimenting someone on their strength, insisting on someone being smart and powerful, shouldn’t be an excuse to dismiss their pain or the reality of their abuse.
Strength doesn’t mean being immune to pain. Intelligence doesn’t mean being invincible. Being trapped in a situation, rendered powerless, by circumstance, or abuse, is not being a loser. Hurting is not weakness. And neither is needing understanding and compassion.
Louis is a victim of corporate greed and manipulation, of abuse. He is trapped in a horrible situation outside of his control. Admitting that this has caused him and is causing him pain, recognising what he has shared with us about it, and extending understanding and compassion, is not infantilising him, not insulting him, not reducing him as a person.
To me, what denial does here is actually silence a victim who is speaking out. Therefore keeping them from receiving support—and being heard, receiving understanding and compassion, is important even if it can’t fix the situation—as well as playing into the superstructure of power that allows those abuses to continue to be perpetrated without consequences.
Downplaying abuse and its consequences benefits the abuser. Calling it demeaning to recognise Louis as a victim is a manipulative tactic that supports the plan to put the blame on him. The idea that Louis is too strong to let anything affect him; too smart and powerful to not come out on top in negotiations, to ever find himself trapped in a situation he doesn’t want, is a convenient stepping stone to the idea that he must therefore be in charge and this all must be his choice. (Thanks @cassandraatthegates and @adam-my-adam for your on point comments.)
Also, there is an element in this fandom when mocking people’s concern for Louis, of mocking mental health problems, as well. Scoffing at him ‘crying alone in his room’ and stuff like that… I wonder at those people who seem lucky enough not to have experienced—themselves or in others near to them—grief, or depression, or the like, so that it’s a ludicrous idea and one to sneer at. Isn’t that more insulting? Mocking the idea of a person’s suffering?
Finally, it seems like many around here expect and demand Louis to remain unaffected by all that he has been through; to keep proving himself again and again; and continue to be a supportive rock for other people. Which is unfair. He has been fighting for too long, has done enough—more than enough. And he deserves for his happiness and well-being to be prioritised.
He deserves respect as a human being, love and support, for himself. Just for him. It shouldn’t depend on him being able to fulfill your personal interests, uphold your headcanons, or not be a distraction to your entertainment.
