# from Salve J Nilsen
# on Wednesday 29 October 2008 09:28:
>I may have realized something now - that the word "Shame" is a very
> strong and heavy-handed word, on the same level as Quisling and
> Traitor.
I'm not sure it is any heavier than you think it is.
> When we say "skam deg!" ("Shame on you!") we do it to kids who have
> done something nasty (e.g. crapping on the lawn instead of in the
> potty.)
Yeah. That's about right. The thing is that shame only carries any
weight when you respect the community from which you've been shamed.
If an outsider sips their tea in a way which greatly offends us and we
try to shame them, they'll just think we're a bunch of jerks. While
shame tends to protect a community's values, it doesn't serve to build
a community (at least not one as inclusive as the CPAN should be.)
Righteousness in the absence of right is just noise.
--Eric
--
Chicken farmer's observation: Clunk is the past tense of cluck.
---------------------------------------------------
http://scratchcomputing.com
---------------------------------------------------
