Bring Back Shame
In the name of kindness and acceptance, mediocrity, ugliness, debauchery, and immorality are welcomed in society.
Not only are acts of turpitude welcomed, they are elevated to equal and sometimes higher status than acts of virtue. In this world, a privileged but unimpressive academic survived decades of paltry and plagiaristic scholarship by the implicit policy of Don’t Notice, Don’t Tell. Based on sex and skin color alone, this middling talent ascended all the way to the presidency of the most prestigious college in the United States. She is forgiven transgressions that would result in the expulsion of a student of the institution she leads. And when she eventually resigns, it won’t be for the plagiarism. It will be because bad people have used her sins to create a distraction.
In this world, a dangerously unhealthy person who has grown to the size of two or more adult humans will be rewarded with a second airplane seat at no cost to themselves. The cost will be paid by everyone else. A ticket holder will be bumped from a flight to accommodate a human euphemism: “person of size”. The ticket price will go up for all customers, to make up for the free seats.
There is nothing new about immorality and self-indulgence. What is new about this century’s bad actors is the utter lack of shame.
Consider these phrases:
Person of size
They are constructed to separate the person from the behavior. Instead of the physical state being the result of behavior, the physical state is something that happened around the person, presumably while they were busy being virtuous.
Why don’t we do this with smoking? Simple. Smoking has been rated unclean through effective public messaging and propaganda. Smokers are not part of the tribe. When a smoker develops lung cancer, society says, ‘They did it to themselves.’ When a grotesquely obese person has a heart attack, we hire grotesquely obese models for magazine covers.
There is a difference between bullying and peer pressure.
Bullying is unkind and sometimes cruel. A bully targets immutable characteristics: height, hair color, nose shape, eyesight, sexuality, race.
Peer pressure brought us the seven deadly sins:
Pride
Greed
Lust
Envy
Gluttony
Wrath
Sloth
They are all around us now, heralded as acts of bravery.
We are growing sick, fat, incompetent, immoral, whiny, and dumb.
Bring back shame. Stop pretending that sympathy and acceptance are the highest virtues. They are not. They will result in devastation.
Tell the truth. Reward hard work and talent. Don’t make excuses for people who don’t value their own wellbeing. Toss out the enablers in positions of authority.