Brodsky devoted one of the longest passages of his speech to warning against victimhood, a subject he understood intimately. He had been imprisoned, forcibly committed to a psychiatric hospital, and expelled from his homeland. Yet he argued passionately that the 'pointed finger' of blame is 'a victim's logo — the opposite of the V-sign and a synonym for surrender.' He acknowledged that victim status is not without its 'sweetness' — it commands compassion and confers distinction. But he warned that there is an entire victim-culture whose net result is lowering expectations so that 'a measly advantage could be perceived as a major breakthrough.' Most powerfully, he argued that however abundant the evidence that you are on the losing side, you should negate it as long as you have your wits about you — that human dignity is an absolute, not a piecemeal notion, and that it 'derives its poise from denying the obvious.'