I feel like people may have gone too far the other way when it comes to shame, and believe me it takes a lot for me to say that as my family was very shame oriented to the point of harm. That’s not the kind of shame I’m talking about. Most things should not be shamed; slut shaming, fat shaming, addict shaming, but if someone goes out and murders another person, I consider it shame-worthy. So is knowingly and deliberately breaking public health guildelines and rules of quarantine thereby causing an outbreak of a deadly disease.
I’ve seen license plates from other provinces but that’s not enough evidence to say the people have broken any rules. People may have moved here and observed all the rules but haven’t been able to get their plates changed over yet. They may even be visiting for a month, the first two weeks of which are in isolation. The only fact available to me is that the plates are from another province, period. If I’m that concerned I have the right to report it to the authorities, quietly, and let them invesitgate.
The students at Dalhousie University who had a party and flaunted their tickets saying it was worth it should be shamed and expelled from school. Their youth should not be an excuse, they are young adults and need to be held accountable. That being said I don’t agree with vigilante justice as in; violence, death threats or destruction of property. I also don’t believe that they cannot be redeemed in the future by demonstrating a profound change in their attitudes through their actions and behaviours.
Yes, they did apologize but wIthout action I can’t take their apology seriously. The way I see it they are only sorry they got called out on it. The facts I have are that the students showed a complete lack of respect for the health and well being of their community by gathering and flaunting their fines. There was no remorse at all, they said it was worth it. Not until there was a fear of real consequences did they apologize.
The way I understand shame is that it is an emotion imposed upon another person when they violate societal norms, family values and other external values. Some external, or societal norms are important for a society to function for everyone’s safety and well being. Nobody should be having a party while restrictions are in place due to a deadly virus. Other values are completely arbitrary, very personal and don’t necessarily serve the greater good, for instance shaming your adult child for leaving an abusive marriage simply because it goes against your belief system.
Shame can be adaptive or it can be harmful, context is everything.
My Phoenix Rising 