Democracy of trauma: a society less egalitarian by the day

So it is that we live in a rich and free country, full of striving individuals chasing comfort and distinction, whose autobiographical literature tells us that helpless addiction and passive suffering are the most meaningful experiences you can have. On the one hand, everyone suffers, so there is a certain comforting equality in this. On the other hand, suffering is the sole thing you can do extravagantly without people resenting you. In a society less egalitarian by the day, we pretend to a curious democracy of trauma. Indeed, if you must admit to the possession of certain advantages, it's best to demonstrate that you have squandered them. Benjamin Kunkel is an editor of n+1 magazine and the author of "Indecision," a novel. The New York Times Sunday Book Review