Tag: Boris Johnson

The Problem with Public Shaming

I saw this meme floating around on Twitter recently shortly after the Prime Minister lost yet another major vote in the House of Commons, this time on a hastily tabled timetabling motion for his Withdrawal Agreement Bill.

While I can, in principle, get behind the idea of shovelling industrial levels of excrement down the gullet of the leader of one of the most heartless and dangerous political parties of the 21st century, I also feel that publicly shaming a politician in such a way will ultimately do society no favours.

Anyone who bothers to study the lessons that history passes down to us will see that, in general, punishing people for perceived wrong-doing never produces a desirable outcome in the end, no matter if it’s a neighbour or the Prime Minster of a government you happen to despise.

If you think about it, I believe it’s pretty obvious that trying to publicly shame a professional politician like Boris Johnson won’t change their worldview, and is therefore unlikely to stop them carrying out the actions on which they have set their mind. More likely, it will simply lead to them becoming colder, more soulless, maybe more sociopathic, and over time, probably becoming more adept at performing sophistry and carrying out evil while absorbing like a sponge absolutely anything that is thrown at them.

In the insightful HBO TV series Succession, one of the main characters, Kendall Roy, undergoes a process of deep systematic humiliation over the course of two seasons. This humiliation is primarily inflicted by his own family, but acquaintances in the wider public also jump on the bandwagon where they have a clear opportunity.

The result is that by the middle of the second season, so much verbal and physical abuse has been fired at Kendall that he has become numb to its effect – being turned into a kind of emotional gimp where, no matter what humiliating words or emotional harm are inflicted upon him, they simply pass straight through, unable to have any noticeable effect, meanwhile creating an individual that is totally open to manipulation, and if you are in a position to wield power over them, able to do whatever you want them to.

This can create an incredibly dangerous individual that potentially poses a huge threat to democratic society. For, what is better for the multinational corporations who strive to create shareholder value by committing systematic violence on the worlds people and its commons than an agent who is completely impervious to all words thrown at them, who can convincingly lie without feeling any pang of conscience?

While the world undoubtedly needs much more love and empathy, I understand that it’s probably a stretch too far for some people to extend the hand of love towards someone who has helped inflict policies that have literally killed thousands of people over the last decade.

So what can we do in place of publicly shaming egregious politicians? Maybe its simply enough to work towards removing them from power and building more positive, progressive policy solutions to societies problems. Don’t fixate; create.

Stay Strong – Change is Coming

See, there are a few things to remember about the latest and greatest omnishambles-of-doom story/event/problem/crisis that barges its way to the top of the news cycle, onto the tabloid front pages and out of the mouths of bored employees around metaphorical watercoolers – a couple of weeks ago, for a handful of days, it happened to be the seizing of British state power by jester-in-chief Boris Johnson under the desperate guise of a democratic election but next week, and next month it will be something else entirely. Things happen fast these days and it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the constant barrage of crises that pummel us with near-timetabled frequency.

The important things to remember about these narrative-shaping events are;

  1. Things can always get worse in the short term- and they probably will. No matter how tragic, terrifying or disastrous something appears to be right now, the situation can ALWAYS get worse. So it’s important to prepare ourselves mentally for a level of horror that will be greater and more intense than what we are currently experiencing – pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will and all that.
  2. It’s very unlikely that you will be able to affect things that are happening on a global or even national level, therefore it’s a wise idea trying not to spend too much time worrying about them. It’s overwhelmingly unlikely that you’re a minister-of-state, an international diplomat, a multinational CEO, an MI6 agent or a billionaire. Therefore the amount of agency you can have at a national or international level is approaching zero. So instead, concentrate on your local vicinity, the area in which you call home. Here you can actually have an impact with your actions.Once you put one foot in front of the other, it might surprise you how much you can achieve.
  3. “And so long as men die, liberty will never perish….”. This quote, part of an incredible and timeless speech by Charlie Chaplin in the film The Great Dictator, reminds us that however bad things get, change is always guaranteed. Everything is constantly changing around us every second of every day and that includes the individuals who hold the reins of power. The rogues who sit on thrones (both physical and metaphorical), who commit genocide and murder, who bully, torment, torture and hate, will one day either die or be forced from their position. You may have to wait decades for that day, it might arrive tomorrow, but always remember; that day will definitely arrive.
  4. The long arc of history is undoubtedly directed toward the light. People become wiser, freedom becomes more widespread, a sense of justice becomes more tactile. Dark times may arise, the light may become obscured, but there is absolutely no doubt that, in the long run, the light grows brighter.

Peace