Broken Britain is what the politicians and media are tagging it but shameless Britain is what it should be. The nation has fallen from its greatness to a lowly estate where every one feels free to do whatever they please, whenever they please and without any remorse or regard for whatever consequence comes with it.
According to one definition, to "have shame" is to maintain a sense of restraint against offending others while to "have no shame" is to behave without such restraint. I think it is safe to say that, according to this definition, many people today have no shame.
When I was growing up (not too long ago!!), the case of a teenager coming to their parents saying “I am pregnant” or “I got a girl pregnant” was a rare happening. And even when it did happen, the family did their best to keep it under wraps. You couldn't bun a spliff or even smoke a cigarette with your parents’ knowledge. Girls couldn't leave the house dressed like hookers. No one came home with poor exam results and a smile because after a good dose of shaming (beating) they would have to repeat them until the results were satisfactory. These, and a lot of other things, were the normalities of my growing up but today, you hear of parents buying cigarettes and drugs for their children to indulge. You hear of parents buying “interesting” outfits for their daughters, encouraging their teenagers to get pregnant so that they can get government assisted accommodation and a whole load of other despicable things, all in the name of freedom of expression.
A trip on any London bus route during the rush to of from school will open you eyes to some the shamelessness that has become a part of everyday life today. From the way they talk to the way they are dressed to the things they talk about, it is clear to see that there is something wrong somewhere. Which raises the question – how do we bring shame back?
A well known technique of discouraging an ideology is to encourage the opposite. For example, to discourage laziness, you encourage hard work with rewards and perks. In the same way, to discourage shame, we as a society, have/need to encourage a sense of pride and self esteem. A knowledge of the fact that every human being is born with some dignity that they have a duty to protect and build on for as long as they live.
In my opinion, achieving this will not be too difficult if the government pump the same amount of money into programmes, advertising and public relations campaigns encouraging people to respect themselves and hold people around them in high regard as they do on obesity and other trivial issues like paying your TV license and car tax. I strongly believe that if these steps are taken, people will begin to see themselves in a different light.
People have deserted religion/faith, which used to be the number one avenue for propagating the message of self worth and self respect and have not bothered to replace it with something that performs at least a similar role. Instead, people have resorted to personal ideologies that are in favour of their current situation and completely ignore what is to come in the future. This has led to a whole heap of mistakes and misleading that many have resigned to accepting as the norm.
We need to bring back a sense of shame in our society. A sense of right and wrong that makes people think twice before doing whatever they choose to do. A sense of shared values and beliefs that binds us together so much that anything that tries to come against it will be opposed with all our hearts, souls and strength
The Telligent Blog©
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