Public Shaming
I just read an article about the effects of public shaming via twitter which I found interesting. I don't use twitter much and I when I am on it I seem to be out of the loop on the big hashtag events only hearing about them after the fact through other means so I've never personally participated in any of the campaigns.
These day on social media the same is happening with people revealing the offending parties personal information, sending threats of harm, and calling for them to be fired. From the article I gather that these twitter waged wars have had real life lingering effects of lost jobs and continued unemployment, personal safety concerns, depression and family upheaval that continue well after the public has forgotten the names of those they vilified. Whether or not these things are on par with the crime has to be taken on a case by case basis.
One of the things that was brought up was the idea that going back to when stocks and public whipping were standard punishments in the US it was the crowds that made the punishments worse. In person they tended to erupt into violence and call for harsher measures than were already being taken. There was even documentation of a woman asking a judge not to be lenient in the application of her whipping but to do it befor the town awakened so that her children would not have to bear the scorn of the townsfolk for her misdeeds. This implies just how branded not just the ones being punished but their entire families got. There was not even then a serve your time and it's over mentality. You not only bore the marks physically that could be covered with clothing but you were forever set apart for ridicule.
This makes me think about a common indignity suffered by children, at least I know where I grew up it was common. There was a misdeed followed by a punishment which was usually private but then the punishment was shared far and wide for the amusement of all the adults in the parents' circle. Not only was it shared but it was not even shared discreetly leaving the child some dignity but shared and laughed about in the child's presence with the child being directly mocked. Supposedly it was all in good fun and no harm was meant but if punishing adults in public squares was done away with in part due to the finding that victims of such punishments are more likely to give up on trying to blend into society due to feelings of abandonment and despair then how does one assume that most children go through similar circumstances unscathed? For all of our progress it sometimes doesn't seem that we've learned all that much.
These day on social media the same is happening with people revealing the offending parties personal information, sending threats of harm, and calling for them to be fired. From the article I gather that these twitter waged wars have had real life lingering effects of lost jobs and continued unemployment, personal safety concerns, depression and family upheaval that continue well after the public has forgotten the names of those they vilified. Whether or not these things are on par with the crime has to be taken on a case by case basis.
One of the things that was brought up was the idea that going back to when stocks and public whipping were standard punishments in the US it was the crowds that made the punishments worse. In person they tended to erupt into violence and call for harsher measures than were already being taken. There was even documentation of a woman asking a judge not to be lenient in the application of her whipping but to do it befor the town awakened so that her children would not have to bear the scorn of the townsfolk for her misdeeds. This implies just how branded not just the ones being punished but their entire families got. There was not even then a serve your time and it's over mentality. You not only bore the marks physically that could be covered with clothing but you were forever set apart for ridicule.
This makes me think about a common indignity suffered by children, at least I know where I grew up it was common. There was a misdeed followed by a punishment which was usually private but then the punishment was shared far and wide for the amusement of all the adults in the parents' circle. Not only was it shared but it was not even shared discreetly leaving the child some dignity but shared and laughed about in the child's presence with the child being directly mocked. Supposedly it was all in good fun and no harm was meant but if punishing adults in public squares was done away with in part due to the finding that victims of such punishments are more likely to give up on trying to blend into society due to feelings of abandonment and despair then how does one assume that most children go through similar circumstances unscathed? For all of our progress it sometimes doesn't seem that we've learned all that much.
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