Shamelessness as a Strategy (2019)
I think shamelessness is a useful concept, but not really in isolation. Related topics include: the incentive structure around the strategy and whether the focus of the shame is a morally good or bad thing.<p>My personal moral code is that lying is bad; this is an article of faith for me, a central tenet of my religion. I find it incredibly disturbing that shameless lying is increasingly a successful political strategy. Lying has always been associated with politicians, but the shameless aspect seems newer to me.<p>If you were to talk about shame a few decades ago, one of the first things that would come to mind is sexual morality. Yet, some of the people I admire the most from that time are shameless homosexuals like Larry Kramer, who were incredibly effective advocates not only for AIDS health issues, but also for gay rights in general. And attitudes have indeed shifted, remarkably quickly.<p>The fact that a strategy is successful tells you more about the incentive structure around the strategy than it does about the person executing the strategy. And the incentive structure around lying in particular is just broken - the most effective liars are celebrated for their skill, the &quot;owning&quot; of their more reality-based opponents. In this incentive environment, it is inevitable that people and institutions will adapt.<p>I don&#x27;t have a solution, but I do know that digital media in its current form is not it. When I was younger, I was idealistic about the idea that free and convenient access to the truth would make lie-based narratives harder to sustain, but now we&#x27;re seeing the opposite. I personally would focus on that rather than the particular mechanism of shame and shamelessness.