BRUCE THORNTON: The Politics of Victimhood. “The trump card of suffering might be politically useful, but using it is a dishonest tactic that inhibits informed deliberation and debate. Relying on emotion and sentiment, no matter how understandable they are as a response to suffering, have since ancient Athens been the agents of bad policies and dangerous political decisions, and tactics for pursuing political advantage at the expense of the public good. They have no place in our already conflicted and divisive public political discourse.”

The proper response is to treat this as the emotional bullying it is, and make the process unpleasant for the bullies.