I enjoyed reading this, even if I have some "quibbles" with your history of PTSD. Your example of academics re-defining words as violence is spot on. I have a very similar anecdote on my own Substack about that sort of bullshit.
I think that one group using the narrative frame of another group has probably always happened, there have been plenty of "Pretendians" or wannabe war heroes in history, but prior to the Internet it was easier to get away with it. American and Canadian culture is obsessed with "authenticity." We want "authentic" ethnic food (that meets our pre-formed expectations of what authentic ethnic food should be) and we want "authentic" items from brands with "pedigree."
The upper class(es) have their own forms of authenticity, which is why there's a difference between class and mere wealth in that strata, but there's no such thing really as an authentic middle class background. Wannabes in the middle class must subsist on whatever authenticity their families had before they became middle class. If someone doesn't have any authenticity of their own then they'll have to go find some in order to be interesting, and adopting an "authentic" origin story or narrative frame is easier than performing the labour necessary to be authentic in your own right.
I enjoyed reading this, even if I have some "quibbles" with your history of PTSD. Your example of academics re-defining words as violence is spot on. I have a very similar anecdote on my own Substack about that sort of bullshit.
I think that one group using the narrative frame of another group has probably always happened, there have been plenty of "Pretendians" or wannabe war heroes in history, but prior to the Internet it was easier to get away with it. American and Canadian culture is obsessed with "authenticity." We want "authentic" ethnic food (that meets our pre-formed expectations of what authentic ethnic food should be) and we want "authentic" items from brands with "pedigree."
The upper class(es) have their own forms of authenticity, which is why there's a difference between class and mere wealth in that strata, but there's no such thing really as an authentic middle class background. Wannabes in the middle class must subsist on whatever authenticity their families had before they became middle class. If someone doesn't have any authenticity of their own then they'll have to go find some in order to be interesting, and adopting an "authentic" origin story or narrative frame is easier than performing the labour necessary to be authentic in your own right.