Guilt Is Such an Effective Tool of Control that We'll Use It On Ourselves
The human race has a long history of guilt and shaming. People and institutions have become experts at spreading guilt. It’s been a successful tool for getting people to do what the powerful want, maybe even as successful as fear. And what makes it so easy is that people can be made to feel guilty in very passive-aggressive ways. Think of those old bumper stickers that bragged: “I break for animals.” The implication for those following that car was: “What’s wrong with you that you don’t, and that you don’t have the moral righteousness to display the same bumper sticker?” Or take that fish symbol brandied about on the back of vehicles testifying: “I’m a Christian.” Ironically, the original fish symbol was meant as secret insider code in times of Roman persecution to disguise that a location was a place where Christians meant. Whether wielded passively or self-righteously, guilt is seldom purely a moral idea. It’s mixed with the power plays of people and...