In Condemnation of Public Shaming
August 5, 2015
Posted by Jack Vance at 5:48 AM
Imagine that you are perusing one of your social media accounts one day when something truly awful happens. Someone who somehow managed to find his or her way into your group of Facebook friends or onto your Twitter timeline says something with which you disagree. But it is worse than that. Much worse. Not only do you disagree with what this person just said, but you experience strong negative feelings in response to it.
The time to act is now, and you do so swiftly by un-friending, unfollowing, and/or blocking the "offender." Never mind that there are some excellent reasons not to do this; your feelings must be protected at all costs. I mean, what kind of person would allow oneself to be exposed to ideas with which one might disagree and find potentially upsetting? A freethinker? Well, yes...but you are experiencing unpleasant feelings, and that is somehow more important than everything else. You deserve better!
So now you've un-friended, unfollowed, and/or blocked the person responsible for offending your various sensibilities, making sure to tell everyone publicly that you have done so. You feel justified in doing this because how you feel is all about what this person said and not about any of your own sensitivities. What's more, the feelings you experienced could not have happened because you misinterpreted anything. You do not make mistakes, after all.
Something is still wrong though. Somehow, un-friending, unfollowing, and/or blocking this person while announcing to the world that you have done so doesn't seem good enough. I mean, you've cut your meaningless electronic ties with this stranger but you find that this does not bring the satisfaction you thought it might. You are still mad. A greater punishment is needed. This person must be harmed in some way.
http://www.atheistrev.com/2015/08/in-condemnation-of-public-shaming.html