“How professors, politicians, and influencers turned victimhood into profit.”

By Dale Jodoin There is a new kind of industry rising in our society. It does not produce food, cars, or medicines. It does not build homes or make lives easier. What it sells is outrage. Professors, activists, writers, and politicians have discovered that anger and grievance are highly profitable. The more they talk about oppression and victimhood, the more money, attention, and power they gain. This is not by accident. It has become a business model. It has become what I call the victim economy. At the heart of this economy is something I call self-racism. In older times, the term meant that someone came to believe lies about their own group. They looked at themselves through the eyes of their oppressors and carried shame. Today, the meaning has shifted. Self-racism is when people repeat accusations of racism against the majority, while carefully avoiding any criticism of their own community. They mirror the words of outside attackers, but they use them as weapons, not as honest reflection. They never turn the mirror inward. Instead, they hold the majority guilty for everything, while their own side gets a free pass. This has created a new class of professionals whose careers depend on keeping this cycle alive. Professors design courses that treat whole nations as permanently guilty. Writers fill shelves with books that repeat the same story: Western culture is nothing but oppression. Media personalities gain ratings by stirring outrage. Politicians stand on stages and accuse ordinary people of racism in order to win votes and donations. The louder the accusations, the bigger the rewards. The method is simple and predictable. First, create a crisis. A speech, a law, or even an offhand comment can be branded racist. Second, amplify the outrage. Social media spreads it, journalists echo it, and the public is told to panic. Third, cash in. There are book deals, lecture tours, political campaigns, and endless interviews. Finally, protect the racket. Anyone who questions the process is branded a bigot or silenced through pressure. The cycle runs over and over, because it pays too well to stop. This industry has been built and polished by the political left. Woke culture has turned victimhood into a badge of honour. Cancel culture has become the enforcement tool that guards it. Students are taught that silence is violence, that even words can be acts of harm, and that every part of Western history is stained. Professors rise in status by promoting these views, building entire careers from guilt. Online influencers copy the formula, gaining followers and donations by accusing anyone who steps outside the approved script. Politicians join in, painting enemies where none exist and promising to fight oppression that is often exaggerated or imagined. It is a perfect racket. Cancel culture is the whip that keeps everyone in line. People see what happens to those who speak out. A job is lost, a reputation destroyed, a friend group abandoned. Ordinary people learn to stay silent. They watch their neighbours fall and decide it is safer to say nothing, even when they see the truth. This silence is exactly what the system needs to grow. Self-racism adds another layer of protection, because when someone from within a minority community repeats the same lines, it appears authentic. It gives the illusion of honesty. But it is selective honesty. It hides problems within while magnifying faults of the majority. It is a shield that deflects blame and keeps the profit machine running. The cost of this victim economy is enormous. Trust between people breaks down. Neighbours no longer see one another as equals, but as oppressors or victims. Every conversation turns into a contest over who has suffered more. Real issues are ignored. Crime, broken schools, and collapsing families go unaddressed because all energy is focused on accusations. The people who most need answers are left with none, while professors, authors, and politicians grow rich off division. This new economy rewards weakness instead of strength. It teaches that the path to success is not building, creating, or leading, but claiming victimhood. The more a person insists they are oppressed, the higher they rise. The majority is expected to sit silent, to carry guilt forever, while a class of professional victims enjoys the benefits. This does not heal wounds. It deepens them. It does not solve problems. It hides them. Escaping this cycle will not be easy, but the first step is to see it for what it is. Victimhood has become a product, sold like any other. Outrage is not a cure; it is a business. The second step is to demand accountability from all sides, not just from the majority. If one group demands respect and moral authority, then it must also face its own faults with honesty. Without this balance, the cycle of blame will never end. Finally, people must learn to resist fear. Cancel culture thrives only when silence wins. If enough voices refuse to bow, the racket loses power. Ordinary citizens must recognize that outrage is being sold to them like soap or soda. The less they buy, the weaker the business becomes. Self-racism and the victim economy have grown together. One provides the mask, the other provides the market. Together they form a machine that feeds on division and rewards those who profit from grievance. The left has built it, protected it, and turned it into a culture where outrage never ends. But a society cannot survive on blame alone. If we want a future built on trust and responsibility, we must stop rewarding professional victims and start rewarding truth. Until that happens, the victim economy will only grow, because outrage sells, and too many people are still buying.