Yes that’s plausible….shame as an indicator of our moral compass, if you will.

What I’m trying to express is that when given an opportunity between shaming, belittling, judging or getting curious and offering compassion, I would in almost all scenarios choose love/compassion.

Now yes this is very nuanced. I can give a few examples.

I have a distinct memory from one of my figure skating competitions (somewhere around middle school age) where I completely let my nerves get the best of me and forgot my choreography. I was technically highly skilled so I managed to place 2nd. My coach took the trophy and said you should be ashamed of that performance. She was right. It was not even close to what my best was. She was teaching me a valuable lesson and she knew me well enough to pass shame.

It’s unfortunately common for mothers to shame other mothers for not breastfeeding or co-sleeping or not vaccinating or whatever. To me this is in the category of strangers just passing judgment and that is never the way. We never know what someone is going through, where they came from, what they’re carrying. Why on earth would you choose to add any negatively to anyone’s day?

Yes there are rare times I would deem shaming necessary. Situations when it seems that moral compass isn’t quite calibrated.

I do think internal shame (noun) will inherently be there and adding external shame (verb) only beats a dead horse so to say. We don’t know stranger’s resilience mentally, especially the state of society today. Constant external shame erodes self worth and a society full of low self worth individuals is not productive.

Generally, I don’t see shaming as solving anything. When the moral compass is missing I’d get curious on traumas, mineral or nutrient deficiencies and circumstances that shaped their worldview. Most people don’t want to do that because it’s not quick or as easy as passing shame. Choosing love, compassion, forgiveness and kindness isn’t always easy but the more you do it, the more it is. I mean have you ever seen one of those videos of a family forgiving the driver of a car that killed their loved one?! 😭

This got long but I hope clarifies my position and I left spirituality/religion out because that would have made it even longer.