I have noticed that there
are people who no longer feel shame when they’ve done something shameful. In particular, I’ve noticed this among
prominent people when they are caught doing something wrong. This inability to
feel shame is not a good development.
Please understand, I
am not in favor of laying guilt trips on people. I realize that guilt has been
used in unfair ways to manipulate and control people. This is not what I am advocating.
However, the
feelings we experience actually serve a purpose. Since it is genuinely possible for people to
behave in shameful ways, it is not unreasonable for feelings of shame to
accompany the shameful behavior. In
fact, we can even argue that feeling shame when we’ve done something wrong is
normal.
Yes it’s true that feeling
shame is unpleasant but, in a way, that’s the point. It is possible for the unpleasant feeling of
being ashamed to actually play a helpful role by influencing us not to repeat
the shameful behavior.
If we reach a point
as a society in which no one ever feels shame, even when they have behaved in
shameful ways, we will find it is not going to be fun, free and wonderfully uninhibited,
rather, it will be very dangerous.
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