I can’t believe it, it is almost the end of the January, the first full month of 2008. February is upon us and comes February 29, Leap Day, which comes every four years. Some people have their birthday on February 29th, in which they celebrate on February 28th or March 1st. I don’t anyone who has a Leap Day birthday.
Looks like we could have a stormy morning complete with thunder and rain. Sounds like spring time in winter. Severe weather does not care what season it is or if it is El Nino or not. Yes, it is more likely to happen in spring and fall, but it can happen anytime. I remember severe thunderstorms in December, flooding in January, and tornados in February.
Mardi Gras is upon us, which is also known as Fat Tuesday, which is celebrated by Catholics and non-Catholics. It is the day before Ash Wednesday and a 40 day period called Lent, which people cannot eat meat on Fridays until Easter. Well, some abstain from smoking and drinking as well, which is a good thing too. It is rather early to celebrate Mardi Gras, which is the earliest since 1913. Easter comes on March 21st, which is early too because spring has barely started.
I am not a football fan myself, but Super Bowl LXII is coming. It is New England Patriots vs. New York Giants. I am rooting for New York of course because it is my favorite city, even though I am a Southerner. I have always liked New York since I was a young child. It will be a game worth watching for me. Super Bowl is one of the days where people consume a lot food besides Thanksgiving. I eat a lot during Super Sunday. Thinking about them nachos and buffalo wings. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. Super Sunday is like a holiday on its own, like Christmas and Labor Day.
A World Of Shaming and Shunning
Tags: shaming, shun, shunning, stigma
One day, you walk out of your house and no one says a word to you, buy you do not think much of it. Than you go to work and you find out you are fired for some unknown reason. You try to look for a job and they do not want to hire you. On the weekends, you decide to go to your country club and they tell you to leave and give the check you paid for membership back. You were once the most popular in town and all your friends decide not be around you anymore. You get kicked out from bar after bar. The manager at you favorite restaurant you eat at tells you you are not welcomed anymore because your presence is making other patrons uncomfortable. You get nasty looks and people hurl nasty insults at you. You are sometimes even threatened with violence and some even spit and hit you. Your home is not safer either, you are bombarded with constant phone calls that are often ugly in nature. Your answering machine is full. You get barrage of hate mail by snail mail and e-mail. To make matters worse, the whole world knows who you are and people on the Internet are posting name, phone number, and address. People are comparing you to some of history’s most vile people, like Charles Manson, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, Seung-Hui Cho, 9/11 Hijackers, and even Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. On top of this, many people are calling for your blood. What is this place? If you thought this is prison, you are wrong. Prison is being confined to a small room in a state penitentiary. However, your world has become a virtual prison with no way out. Welcome to the world of shaming and shunning.
Social shaming and shunning occurs when people do something that morally wrong, but not illegal. Well, not always, especially when it comes to cases involving child molestation, murder, drunk driving, rape, terrorism, or treason. It usually occurs when someone does something that outrages the public, but charges are not filed in this case. Shaming is a very powerful weapon that has a lasting effect. Ask OJ Simspon, David Cash, and Lori Drew about that. One thing that comes to mind is the Megan Meier MySpace suicide case, which occurred in 2006, but did not break until November of 2007. The hoax was committed by Lori Drew, her daughter, and Ashley Grills. To add fuel to the fire, the Drews, pressed charges against the Meiers, who were grieving the loss of the daughter, after smashing up their Foosball table and also for Ron trying mess up their lawn. Even though the case was bizarre in nature, Lori Drew is not all that different from other people who have faced social shunning, like OJ Simpson and David Cash. If we were to predict their future, we can look no further than OJ Simpson.
Despite his acquittal, Simpson became a pariah that his own country club kicked him out and his friends turned their backs on him. To compound it, he lost the civil suit and is severely broke. He cannot find a job because no one will ever hire him, which would make the business suffer. Same goes with David Cash, who never faced charges, but faced extreme shaming to a point that he was a sad and lonely person, who has no future and friends. In many ways, Cash is similar to Lori Drew, he tried to sue his high school for denying him for attending prom.
Shaming comes with stigmas. Stimgas are permenant and do not wash out. In many ways, shaming is more powerful than the law. Sure, you may not have a criminal record or see the bars of prison. Having a criminal record does not always bar a person from finding a job. Some people with criminal records are hired and end up being productive workers. On the other hand, people who are shamed are often not hired. Even though those people never faced any criminal charges, no one is going to associate with them. Even if they are hired, they will get fired quickly as they get hired. A college degree is worthless as a sheet of paper for them.
Many people who are shamed brought it onto themselves. Their arrogance and stupidity is their downfall. If you break the rules, you should face the consequences of your action. Shaming keeps people in line. People who think shaming is wrong seriously need to have their heads examined. Those kind of people are moral relativists and believe that there should be no consequences for their action. Those kind of people should shunned as well, like the shunned.
Using public relation to help remove the stigma is not going to help and improve your image. Repairing damaged repuatations is generally a bad idea. It does more harm than good. We all saw that with Bill Maher after he made the remark on Politically Incorrect, a week after 9/11 attack. Emotions were running extremely high because of the heinous nature of the terrorist attack. Anyone who was seen unpatriotic that time were viciously attacked that their reputation was marred and were shunned into despair. Many adverstisers pulled out and he went into talk shows as a form of damage control. However, Maher ended up shedding too much blood and was curb smashed. Eventually, Politically Incorrect was canned in 2002 and Maher is now HBO.
They can say I took in Hurricane Katrina evacuees from the Gulf Coast or went to a Third World nation and helped the poor. Or, I am a honor student and went to a great college. None of that would work. They can keep saying I was a good person who helped people. Sorry, that is not going to cut it. You have to face the consequences of your action. Break the rules, face the music.