“People often vented their rage on those who were the victims of their neglect because they were in truth blaming themselves.”
“She was convinced that women were as often victims of themselves as they were of men.”
“I abhor the supreme folly of those who blame the disciples of nature in defiance of those masters who were themselves her pupils”
“Those who appeared to be victims were always the easiest to victimize.”
“Those who blamed aggression formed Amity.’…‘Those who blamed ignorance became the Erudite.’…‘Those who blamed duplicity created Candor.’…‘Those who blamed selfishness made Abnegation.’…‘And those who blamed cowardice were the Dauntless.”
“For its survival, the satanic cult demanded secrecy and obedience while it made brutality, even killing, appropriate. Denial and disavowal were inevitable responses to required behaviors so bizarre as to seem unreal, even to those who enacted them. What they could not deny or disavow, they could distort. They could blame the victims, who deserved to die for fighting or crying or for failing to fight or cry. They found encouragement for such a stance in a general culture accustomed to blaming victims for their misfortunes, and in specific contact with child victims eager to blame themselves. By believing that victims had a choice when there was none, they could see victims as culpable. They could even see the deaths as right and purposeful in the nobility of sacrifice.”