In this Brave New World where the average facebook user meticulously reveals her lunch selection at Subway with a proud flourish worthy of a Pentagon wikileak , who can blame us for becoming desensitized to embarrassment? Vague acquaintances flood their “timelines” with intimate details concerning their sex lives, politics, drug use, and bodily functions. A new app is in alpha build which teaches girls to masturbate. Does anyone feel my shame for even looking? Young people perceive this digital diarrhea as “news.” Any sensationalistic link posted by a friend who is older or who possesses well-displayed body alterations is considered gospel. I am a teacher, and my mouth drops each time an otherwise intelligent, well-adjusted teenager says something like, “Did you know that aliens have landed in Oklahoma and are causing tornadoes?” or “Republicans sent out vans and kidnapped a million black people to change the election results.”
The powers-that-be have eradicated shame as successfully as tuberculosis. Food stamps are disseminated using what appear for all the world to be legitimate credit cards, only instead of paying bills, the recipients watch their balances grow monthly. Section 8 housing is sprinkled generously throughout blue collar neighborhoods instead of concentrated in high crime ghettoes, and pregnant teenagers display their bulging bellies proudly on popular TV shows. In many states, welfare recipients outnumber workers, and shameful behavior is well rewarded. Mayors, governors, representatives, and senators who confess to smoking crack, spending taxpayer money on mistresses and prostitutes, and indulging in lavish vacations are regularly re-elected.
Back to facebook. When I see you again, my friend, must I ask how long that unfair restraining order against you will keep you away from your wife and kids? Must I comment on your attack on all democrats/republicans/progressives/libertarians who fail to share your views? Do I have to pray for you so that you can sell your house before buying yet another McMansion? How about telling your wife about the three other facebook profiles you’ve created with one or two letters juxtaposed so that your stalking might go undetected?
Let’s bring back shame and make it popular as the new Kardashian baby. Celebrate only true achievements, and stop awarding trophies for just showing up. Be contrite, let your face glow endearingly, and learn from what, in the end, might actually have been a mistake.