The Controlling Power of Guilt
There’s a long history of using guilt and shaming – I mean going as far back as we have a human written record. People and institutions soon became experts at spreading guilt among those they felt needed their control . It’s been quite an effective tool to get people to do what the powerful want - maybe even as effective as fear. And when the two work together, as they most often do, their power is enormous . 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 BRAKE FOR ANIMALS.” The implication for those following that car was: “What’s wrong with you that you hate animals and don’t have my moral righteousness to display the same bumper sticker?” Or take that fish symbol brandied about on the back of vehicles testifying: “I’m a real Christian.” Ironically, its origin was as a secret insider code in times of Roman persecution. It disguised that a location was a place where Christians met,