In mental illness, it is a delusion where the person suffering believes there is a grand conspiracy that specifically targets them or individuals like them, akin to gang stalking. This conspiracy supposedly is trying to make their life hell and everything that goes wrong in life is caused by this mysterious group, sometimes it’s the
government, celebrities or just
random people (See Apophenia).
Or (what this focuses on), when it involves assholes, they usually have a persecution complex over what is reasonable backlash to their shitty behaviour, using DARVO, psychological projection,
gaslighting techniques , nutpicking, strawman arguments (and other logical fallacies) and then playing the victim. Claiming to be the victim of unfair judgement and mistreatment, when they in fact do that and/or advocate for it. Simple resistance to injustice to them is like an attack.
Examples of a persecution complex:
Christian fundamentalists claim to be persecuted by the mainstream media for “their pro family values” (see dog whistle), when they spew bigotry towards many marginalized groups and usually
get a pretty paycheck for it. (See Astroturf)
AI “““artists””” claiming to be the victim of artists, who simply just want to not be plagiarized and have the thing they love and spent years doing be a stable
way of living and not be treated like worthless numbers by executives (see Activision, EA, Disney, and other
shitty executives)
Men’s “““rights activists””” claim that men are unfairly being treated by women. When they in
fact are huge misogynistic douchebags that make women dislike men. Same
people who if they were to
meet real victims of the loneliness epidemic (ie someone who suffers from crippling social anxiety) they would make it worse for that person calling them things like a “
pussy” and giving superficial advice like “man up” whilst belittling them.
Following the death of Brian Thompson, many healthcare executives claimed that they were being unfairly treated by
people on social media, when those
said executives can do the exact same thing that happen to Brian on a bigger scale and get away with it (thanks to lobbying).
“When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” – Franklin
Leonard