And I have to disagree.
We rely far too much on the courts and lawyers in this society. Social disapprobation is a far better tool.
We need MORE public shamings.
This. ^^^
More of this. ^^^
Less of this:
![](https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.law.harvard.edu%2Fnews%2Fimages-cms%2Fdersh_web.jpg&hash=97eacb4ec0dbceed2df68470ac6453061303cd12)
My point is this: Social misapprobation, by definition, is not assigned based on any kind of legal or even rational system.
Au contraire. Tradition and other social conduct is most times quite rational. Folks didn't just pull folkways, mores, and such out of their fourth points of contact. There was a process over a good amount of time that resulted in certain relationships between action/reaction and such.
We might have to break out our fainting couch nowadays, since we have been conditioned to lawyer-ize everything, but there are rational bases for most public shaming.
While the State may attempt to direct with (by publicly shaming criminals), it is not fully controllable. In the times where punishments were public, there were often occasions when crowds would become enraged and assault the executioners to free the criminal, even when those same people had previously demanded his punishment.
Uh, we were talking about public shaming, not public execution.
Also, I don't want it controlled by the State. I want the "public dander" to be a rival power that demands respect form the state.
Add to this the tendency of people - not just in high-school, but in any kind of group environment - the military (at least where I served), even some workplaces and small town, to single people out for exclusion and hatred for being different, and using that as any kind of tool for justice become... very iffy at best. People express 'social disapprobation' of pagans, strippers, and hippie protestors. What kind of method is that to make society better?
First off, if someone chooses to take on counter-cultural habits, beliefs, etc.,
they are getting what they asked for WRT exclusion, etc. It is the "counter-" part, here. They are setting themselves apart & acting different. So, they are treated differently.
We have freedom of expression, so they can express what they please. But, there is no freedom to get invited to all the cool parties after using that freedom to mock the popular cliques.
I think the atrophy of public shaming and other social tools is tied to the growth of government power into every sphere. If people can't or won't police their own selves via self-discipline and keeping the community standards, police will be provided from on high. And they won't live next door or have their own behavior checked by the community's standards.