Fighting the Victim Label

In the media, everyone's a victim: of fire, of cancer, of mugging, of rape, of AIDS. In the world of reportage, no one is doing well. Victims sell newspapers. Does anyone consider the impact of this cult of the victim? Does anyone realize the power of the message "You are helpless, there is no hope for you"? As a person with AIDS, I can attest to the sense of diminishment at seeing and hearing myself constantly referred to as an AIDS victim, an AIDS sufferer, an AIDS case-as anything but what I am, a person with AIDS. I am a person with a condition. I am not that condition.