Before the times of iPhones, laptops and cars, society was controlled by royalty. Kings and Queens held complete power in their hands, and everyone was expected to obey the laws they created. If an individual did not, that person was subject to a punishment at the discretion of the King. Of course, in the Medieval times it’s safe to say that people were a bit less civil than they are today. Monarchs invented bizarre methods of torture, a common one being that of the pillory. A pillory, being composed of wood and metal with holes for the subject to hang from his head and hands, was made for the ultimate purpose of public humiliation. Criminals would hang helplessly for days while the public would throw rotten things and make fun of them.
Alright, now back to the present. No longer are people ruled solely by royalty. In fact, many behaviours and traits of society have been changed for the better since those times. Women are making progress to being equal to men, we voice our opinions through democracy, and poverty rates are lower. However, there is one aspect of the medieval society that is making a subtle but definite comeback- that of the Pillory.
Yes, I am completely aware that jails exist, and criminals are punished by staying in them. The thing is, a Pillory was basically a tool that shamed an individual for all the public to see. Nowadays we no longer have those wood and metal contraptions, but other devices that are essentially exactly the same. What are they? The answer is Social media sites, primarily Twitter and Facebook. That’s right, social media is the present-day equivalent to ancient pillories.
What is Public shaming?
How is it that these websites are similar to pillories? Primarily in the aspect that both are tools that are used to humiliate individuals in public. Which brings me to the topic of today, that of public shaming. Public shaming (on social media) is the humiliation of an individual for a comment/post/status, inflicted by large amounts of people hating on and threatening that person. You could say it’s a relative of cyberbullying, except cyberbullying happens mainly to young people, where as public shaming affects those of all ages.
Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook were originally created so that people could keep in touch and give friendly updates on their lives. However, it seems that these sites are being abused more and more. Without even realizing it, individuals of all ages are posting content that potentially sets themselves up for failure. Whether it be photos that show too much, racist jokes or comments, or opinions, statuses/tweets that seem harmless at the time can easily turn the world against you (Yes, the world, because the people of the world are easily interconnected by social media). All it takes is that one comment. If someone out there disagrees with you/thinks you are wrong or offensive, chances are other people do too. And human beings are selfish- other people on social media don’t hesitate to attack you, which brings me to the next question in the exploration of public shaming…
How serious is the impact of public shaming?
We already know that cyberbullying can be pretty serious. Seeing that public shaming is related to cyberbullying, you’d think that the effects are somewhat similar. Well yes, they are, but the damage done to a person who has been publicly shamed is actually even more severe than a person who has been cyberbullied. You see, when a person is the target of public shaming, in most cases it actually ruins his/her life. Nowadays, everyone has social media in some way, shape, or form. Many employers and businesses use twitter to advocate their services. So it would make sense that in the case of an employee of a company, for example, being publicly shamed by a large audience, that that person would lose his/her job. That’s right, because of a few words, you could be fired, and seeing that many companies do background checks, it’s unlikely you’d be hired under the same name again. For example, take the case of Justine Sacco.
The different types of public shaming
Not only does public shaming take the form of what I’ve just described, this embarrassment also occurs in other ways. Have you heard of fat shaming (the public criticism of a person being overweight) , body shaming (the public criticism of not having the ideal body), or child shaming (when parents punish their children by humiliating them on the internet) ? All of these are different in their own unique ways, but the thing they all have in common is that in each case some unlucky individual is publicly humiliated. Whatever happened to anti-bullying? Shaming someone in public is equivalent, if not worse, to bullying. Just imagine how you’d feel if you posted a selfie thinking you looked pretty for once, and then received thousands of negative comments. The impact on your self esteem and feeling of self worth would be awful.
I hope I’ve opened your eyes to the very real trend of public shaming. I guess the old saying is true; once it gets out it’s not coming back. However, the next time you’re about to tweet against a certain person be it a celebrity, a public figure, or just an ordinary person, think about how the impact of your words will affect that individual, put yourself in his/her shoes, and think again.