PrintDecember 9, 2006
The Underestimated Power of Shame
"Think twice about what you are going to say, especially if you are going to say what you're thinking." So goes the old adage. This advice is a caution that seems to garner very little support in an era when airing one's dirty laundry in public is considered a noble gesture, and lack of self control is at worst looked upon as an excusable peccadillo and at best encouraged as a form of self-expression.Most of us trust that we have become reasonably acclimated to a mutually agreed upon social arrangement, until someone in the public realm flies off the handle and briefly embarrasses humanity by modeling the absurdity of neglecting even the most basic rules of social decorum. Some noteworthy examples stand out, such as the recent outburst by a clearly intoxicated Danny De Vito in a drunken diatribe where he mocked the President of the United States, Michael Richard's impetuous tirade of racial expletives at a comedy club and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez's iniquitous...(Read Full Article)
