Shamelessness as a Strategy (2019)
I'm curious about what happened to Duty.<p>My grandparents' generation (English, WW2 generation) had very, very, strong social and emotional consequences for doing/not doing their "duty". This was commonly understood - "England expects every man to do his duty" - everyone knew what their duty was and how to do it. This might be as simple as a soldier fighting the enemy (and not running away), a husband supporting his family, a wife staying in an unhappy marriage to raise the children, and so on. Not all Duty was something we'd recognise as a good thing these days. In fact most of it we'd probably see as repressive now, but that's a different discussion.<p>The consequence of not doing your duty was Shame. Personal, emotional shame, and public shaming by your peers. Publicly not doing your duty could lead to suicide as the only way of escaping the shame.<p>Somehow between WW2 and here, we completely lost the idea of Duty as a personal responsibility. No-one today knows what their duty is, and would be confused if asked. So it seems kinda fitting that we're also losing the idea of Shame.