A definition of "victim"?

Discussion in 'Science & Society' started by HarmonyStar, Mar 19, 2003.

  1. HarmonyStar Harmony the Star Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    128
    I am wondering if any of you super duper intellectuals out there can come up with a really original (or even not so original) definition of victim. Not just a pissy one-liner, I am looking for a detailed definition (i.e. victims of crime). Your help on this is greatly appreciated!

    Furthermore, do you believe that police are also classed as victims of crime, in a sense?
     
  2. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. spuriousmonkey Banned Banned

    Messages:
    24,066
    maybe you are looking for a more philosophical definition if you want more than a one-liner

    vic·tim


    One who is harmed or killed by another: a victim of a mugging.
    A living creature slain and offered as a sacrifice during a religious rite.
    One who is harmed by or made to suffer from an act, circumstance, agency, or condition: victims of war.
    A person who suffers injury, loss, or death as a result of a voluntary undertaking: You are a victim of your own scheming.
    A person who is tricked, swindled, or taken advantage of: the victim of a cruel hoax.
     
  4. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  5. 3finger Registered Member

    Messages:
    7
    Victim- Group, individual, or entity put into a disadvantages position directly due to the action of a seperate and independent outside force, individual, or entity.:bugeye:

    "Johnny wanted to watch NCAA basketball, but could not fully enjoy it, as he was the victim of his wife's never-ceasing chatter."

    Victim - Johnny
    Disadvantages position - Inability to concentrate on NCAA
    entity or force - Wife's mouth flappin

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  6. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  7. 3finger Registered Member

    Messages:
    7
    vic·tim


    One who is harmed or killed by another: a victim of a mugging.
    A living creature slain and offered as a sacrifice during a religious rite.
    One who is harmed by or made to suffer from an act, circumstance, agency, or condition: victims of war.
    A person who suffers injury, loss, or death as a result of a voluntary undertaking: You are a victim of your own scheming.
    A person who is tricked, swindled, or taken advantage of: the victim of a cruel hoax. [/B][/QUOTE]

    Victim encorporates more than one harmed physically or by something manmade.

    Shaq is victimized by Tim Duncan's more skilled footwork. Shaq is also the victim of two ugly people breeding.
     
  8. cjard Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    125
    victim: one who is deprived of something to which he is rightfully entitled to

    beyond this, right and title have to be assigned, and that becomes more difficult as you throw morality into the fray...

    what is crime? to most, it is anything that breaks the law.. thats a crock of shit tho, as im more likely to deprive someone of their sleep sitting at a red light at 3 am in my tractor-sounding ford diesel, than i am by driving through it. the law calls me a criminal if i do drive through it. possibly because it assets that by doing so i could deprive someone of the life that they are rightfully entitled to, by crashing into them. this is why i dont drive through red lights that i cannot see to be clear.

    if a police inspector is robbed of the sleep he deserves or is entitled to, as a result of the case he is working on or the horrific scenes he is seeing, then yes he is a victim of crime. the crime is the robbery, the victim is the suffrance
     
  9. weebee Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    374
    ….you might have already looked in the Oxford English Dictionary, but if not their quite amusing.

    Victim;
    1. a. A living creature killed and offered as a sacrifice to some deity or supernatural power.
    b. Applied to Christ as an offering for mankind.
    2. a. A person who is put to death or subjected to torture by another; one who suffers severely in body or property through cruel or oppressive treatment.
    b. One who is reduced or destined to suffer under some oppressive or destructive agency
    c. One who perishes or suffers in health, etc., from some enterprise or pursuit voluntarily undertaken
    d. In weaker sense: One who suffers some injury, hardship, or loss, is badly treated or taken advantage of, etc.
    3. In the phrase to fall a victim to (some thing or person), in preceding senses.
    4. attrib. (chiefly appositive) and Comb., as victim beast, carrion, -flock, -hero, horde, -lamb, ox; victim-laden adj.; victim-ship, a ship carrying victims.
    Hence victim v. trans., to slay in sacrifice

    I would say that having an act done to one is not enough. The person must have suffered an emotional and or mental reduction in power and strength to be reduced to the state of victimhood. It would be more a mater of the person considering themselves a victim, and thus a police person may or may not consider themselves a victim of crime.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  10. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    13,433
    You are not a victim of nature if your home and family were swept away and destroyed by a tornado?

    As long as someone (or something) experiences suffering in an interaction (interraction implies at least one opposing "force"), it can be classified as a victim.

    Victim of cancer, for example.
    Victim of a person's own self-doubt.
    A shoreline can be a victim of erosion.
    A sculpture can be a victim of rust.
     
  11. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    13,433
    This sounds like a school assignment.

    If so, what exactly is the assignment?
     
  12. BillClintonsCigar Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    160
    Yeah! I agree with one raven. No cheating!! Do you own thinking.
     
  13. weebee Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    374
    One_raven; I don’t think that one necessarily is a victim, it would depend on the persons reaction to the event. There is implied a loss of power which I don’t think is a necessity. Lets say that your house was swept away, and you claimed on the insurance and built a nicer one, or even that you took that opportunity to move and follow your dreams...would you still be a victim?
     
  14. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    13,433
    weebee,

    Yes you would if you experienced suffering from the loss.

    You would still be a victim of the flood (or whatever swept your house away) but you would have been able to cope with your loss because of recompensation. Plus there is the possible emotional suffering of losing the house that you lived in, family pictures, years of memories, Skip (your beloved Jack Russel Terrier).
    If you felt no loss cuz you just had it built and the insurance paid more than it cost to buiold and lost nothing, then you wouldn't have experienced suffering.

    Let's apply that reasoning to rape.
    If a woman is raped, but the rapist was caught and was rich.
    She filed a civil suit and he settles out of court for 1 million dollars.
    Is she still a victim?
    Yes.
    Even if she is strong and recovers from the emotional trauma, she was still the victim of a crime.
    She experienced suffering.
     
  15. weebee Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    374
    Would it be true to say that we are all victims of life, in that we all, at some time suffer?
     
  16. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    13,433
    I guess you can take that viewpoint if you consider "life" to be an opposing force.
    I don't.

    We are victims of circumstances we find (or place) ourselves in during our lifetime.
     
  17. weebee Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    374
    Interesting. I don’t find this definition useful for social or political purposes, but I can see its relevance to U.S. life. Thought the US could be seen as victims of their foreign policy

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  18. one_raven God is a Chinese Whisper Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    13,433
    Why not?
    Where do(es) the flaw(s) lie?

    Definitely!!

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  19. weebee Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    374
    I would say that for such concepts to be useful need to exclude someone, which this one does not seem to. I think the label ‘victim’ gained its power from excluding the victims of broken nails, and thunderstorms.

    If the qualifying factor is ‘suffering’ there is an issue of who could use such a label; those who have suffered, those who inflect the suffering, or an observer. Also is suffering essentially emotional, mental or physical?

    As far as I can see labelling someone who has been raped as a victim (regardless of how they see themselves) would not be useful for interacting with them, or helping them cope mentally. I am not familiar with rape counselling, so I should end that there.

    It’s interesting, but I don’t have the time to spend on it, I’m sure these things would fit into your definition.

    Cheers
     

Share This Page