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Shaming Won’t Work
You can’t elevate people by insulting them
As our society further divides, there is more and more tension building up between those who consider themselves ethically superior and those who for whatever reason chose otherwise.
Be it not wearing a mask, refusing to vaccinate against Covid-19, driving a huge car, eating meat or even being overweight, certain people feel like this is their sovereign right and will fight for it.
On the other hand, there are plenty of us who disagree with our choices and are eager to point out the ethical downfalls of it. Often by choosing the worst possible way; (public) shaming and throwing guilt.
It won’t work!
Shaming is too big an assault on the dignity of an individual. It puts one into a defence mode where he or she is defending the attacked position not because she would think it is OK to be without a mask or eating excess meat, but simply because she needs to defend her basic human dignity.
At least for the defending person, it ceases to be about that particular issue but simply about the integrity of being a fully realised and functioning human.
When being attacked their sympathetic system fires up, adrenaline rises, senses sharpen and the whole body goes into the fight-or-flight mode.
