Mechanism

Sanctiphagy

Narrates itself as heroism, gratitude, appreciation, resilience, martyrdom, sacrifice, 'the cost of greatness,' legacy.

“Why am I being given an award instead of the help I asked for?”

You might be inside it if

Have you been publicly celebrated for something that cost you?
Is the suffering described as meaningful, heroic, or redemptive?
Did the celebration address the conditions that caused the cost?
Did the conditions change after the celebration?
Does that meaning depend on the suffering continuing?
Do they rely on people like you continuing to absorb this cost?

Hard to see because the narration feels like recognition, not routing — celebration obscures extraction, and suffering reframed as meaningful makes objection feel like refusing meaning.

Read the full argument Open the toolkit Browse the patterns

All mechanisms

False Elasticity
Actuarial Medicine
Sanctiphagy
Procedural Erosion
Administrative Homelessness
Manufacturing Inevitability
Seemingly Neutral Systems
Temporal Capture
Hyperreal Labor
Charismatic Systems
The Heisenberg Subaltern
Load-Bearing Design
The Capture of Maintenance
Lucid Disorientation
The Subtext Economy