📅 Thought for today:
‘There is a lust in man no charm can tame: Of loudly publishing his neighbour’s shame: On eagles wings, immortal scandals fly, while virtuous actions are born and die.’
— William Harvey
#thoughtfortoday #shame #lust #charm #tame #scandals #virtuous #publishers #media #psychology #psychotherapist
William Harvey was a 17th-century physician, and an interesting man – I recommend a read of his profile on Wikipedia.
Two trains of thought brought me here – one was the corrosive effects of shame on individuals and the other was the mass media’s corrosive influence on society when it finds something to shout about and someone to shame.
We have fuel shortages in the UK for many interconnected reasons, the media response is but one of them.
Shame for the individual is so debilitating and pervading.
I am grateful to have done some training with Carolyn Spring, and I recommend her books Unshame and Recover Is My Best Revenge.
Exposing someone’s shame, as often happens with an abuser or persecutor, is so cruel and vindictive, yet we tolerate a media that practices this every day – in fact through gossip pages and websites we revel in the shame of others.
It is probably no longer possible to put that genie back in the bottle, but if we celebrate the virtuous actions more, we can at least give shamers less oxygen.
