The Bad Side Of Being Famous Analysis

In the article “Condemn the Crime, Not the Person,” June Tangney argues that shaming causes more harm than good. She focuses on alternatives to traditional sentences instead of shaming and incarceration. As a most recent trend, officials are using shaming sentences. Tangney states that it is important to know the distinction between shame and guilt. She explains that feelings of shame involve painful focus on the self, the humiliating sense of “I am a bad person,” and guilt impacts a specific behavior, the sense of “I did a bad thing” (570-571). She also emphasizes in evidence suggesting that publicly shaming make a problem instead of creating a constructive change in people. Even thought, the tone of her essay is informative and innovative, it is one sided, ineffective

Public shaming can sometimes work when sending people to prison or jail does not; this is because it makes them own up to what they did. It makes the people not want to do it again and it also sets an example to everyone that sees them. Making a person hold a sign in public seems to be the most popular form of public shaming as a punishment, for example: a woman who drove on a sidewalk just to go around a school bus was made to wear a sign and stand at an intersection (Reutter); by forcing her to do this she will probably not drive around a bus again and will hopefully

As an individual, it’s a part of life to make plenty of mistakes, but is public shaming the answer to solving it? In todays’ society, punishment for people is completely different from back in the Puritan days. For example, in the novel the Scarlett Letter, Hester Prynne commits adultery, which leads her to having to wear the letter “A” on her chest, which is a form of public humiliation but in this sense, it’s not right. This is Hester Prynne’s sin that she committed that she lives with forever and it shouldn’t be any of the public business for her to be humiliated even more. This is a form of public ridicule, reintegrative shaming where attention can be drawn by wrong doing, and in order for you to learn in life you have make some mistakes . Public shaming is immoral in today’s society because as an individual that has done something wrong, you will start to feel like an outcast besides having to endure humiliation for your actions.

The role of punishments in the justice system is designed to be served for a certain period of time then end, but today “public shaming exercises haphazardly mix the real world with virtual reality [social media] [...]” (Beato) because public humiliation fails to have an exact ending due to social media. A crucial part of the justice system is to reform the individuals who are punished under it; punishments that end allow individuals to move on and become good citizens again. Since public humiliation does not end, it is not a viable option for punishments that reform the individual. Judges often sentence criminals to public humiliation because they believe it to be a less intense form of punishment. However in reality, public humiliation is the most damaging form of punishment, below the death penalty, because the damage caused by public humiliation follow the individual for the rest of their life. Public humiliation is too damaging to be used to punish

Dan M. Kahan argues in his article “Shame Is Worth a Try” that people who understand the potential of shaming know that it is “cheap, efficient, and an appropriate alternative to short jail sentences” (571).

In the 1750s if caught or assumed to be a thief in the first conviction a person was to be whipped. The second time caught the accused was to repay damages and whipped in public. The third offense was sentence to hang. (Lewin, 2013) Corporal punishment, public humiliation, forced labor, exile, and death were reform tactics and carried out right after convincing a prisoner instead of long-term prison sentences. (Lynch) Today we still have some of the very same tactics,

Public shaming happens more often than we are aware of. “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed” by Jon Ronson is a book focused on modern public shaming. Ronson refers to the puritan era multiple times and compares their public shaming to modern shaming. He provides evidence where shaming can be used for good and when shaming can be used for destruction. Although Ronson choses to lean on how shaming has destroyed multiple individual's self-esteem, careers and their lives in general; he makes sure to add in happy story endings, where the shaming had changed their lives for the better. Ronson is incredibly thorough with each story he tells and very little is left to the imagination. At times he goes over board and provides too much information which could leave the reader confused.

These feelings are still alive from the nonstop coverage of entertainers on the train to parents who force their children to show signs of their crime in the streets. Of course, there are various degrees of shaming, and some people claim to use it. Shame is powerful, and can form the behavior of the person being shamed and the people around him. Back in high school and college, there were (silly) things I did not do. For I have seen others rejected it as though I had never been again (foolish) because I was rejected because of it.

Although the internet can be a helpful tool in all facets of life, the negative effects it has on one’s body are undeniable. The brain is very adaptable, and changes occur at a biological level as one

Imagine one has committed a crime. They have undermined the very values that our society holds through their ignorance, intolerance and lawlessness. Their punishment should be straightforward, guided by the Constitution and the justice system of our country. Now imagine that the crime was that one has harassed disabled children. What would the punishment be? Jail, community service, maybe even a mere warning? In the case of Edmond Aviv, he was sentenced to jail, community service, anger management, mental health counseling, but perhaps the most damning punishment of them all was that he was forced to stand alongside a busy road holding a sign, labeling him as a bully. The sign stated, “I am a bully. I pick

After reading “The Scarlet Letter” and watching the Monica Lewinsky Ted talk, one can see there are major differences and similarities between 17th century shaming and modern day shaming. In the 17th century scaffolds were metaphorically much smaller than they are now. In the 17th century a scaffold was a raised wooden platform used for the public execution of a criminal, whereas contemporary scaffolds are platforms used for verbal shaming, internet shaming, and shaming worldwide. In the 17th century only people in one’s town could see them being shamed, but today in society being shamed can be viewed by anyone because of technology used by people every day.

Public shaming today could be used for crimes such as theft, such as a kid stealing from a candy store. ONe woman found out that stealing from a 9-year-old girl on her birthday can lead you to the town square holding a shameful sign, an effective way to make you feel bad for what you do. This shows how using public shaming for things such as theft in smaller crimes can make people feel bad, the key to successfully correcting this behavior. You can not effectively correct criminal behavior without making the person feel bad for what they have

Hawthorne claims that no crime is more flagrant than to prevent an offender from hiding his face in shame. After reading the novel, The Scarlet Letter I can see that there is very thorough evidence for agreeing with Hawthorne. Therefore, it is definite that there is no crime worse than being forced to confront your shame in public. Individuals should have the right to face their wrongs alone and should not be forced to confront them publicly. The article “The Shame of Public Shaming” clarifies that public shaming has been used as punishment in almost all societies but over the past couple of centuries have moved away from this kind of punishments. In the Massachusetts Bay Colony, they have publicly shamed many individuals the main one

In today’s internet savvy world, ‘Shaming’ has become an aspect of core-competency. And this aspect holds the power to destroy lives and confidences. This issue has become so large in the past few years that an entire book (“So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed”) has been written focusing on this very topic. But who is responsible for this chaos? Is it the person engaging in bad behavior or the person pulling the curtain off of the act? The answer depends on whom you ask. Social media when used properly has proved to be a powerful tool against the powerful organizations and influential people. Giving voice to pain of millions.

"The immediacy and fast pace of the internet can be magical,” but it can also become a nightmare that ruins a person’s life (Source C “Is the Internet a Mob Without Consequences?”).  The world believes that public humiliation is an effective punishment, but it is overused and ineffective.  Public shaming is a dire term due to its high usage. It dates back to the 1500s. The Puritan society gave their people this type of punishment, as seen in Source A, The Scarlet Letter.  Puritans hoped that the sinner  would show God their remorse after being publicly mocked.  Now, in the 21st century, public shaming is still taking full effect  because of social media, such as Instagram and Facebook. Examples of victims that could not escape public shame are Monica Lewinsky, Justine Sacco, and Hester Prynne. In addition Tyler Clementi’s public shaming drove him to such despair that he took his own life, seeing no hope of recovering his dignity amongst his peers. Public shaming creates sometimes irreparable consequences that  impact a person socially, professionally, and personally.