Opinion and Shame

I've stated here that I'm a cultural libertarian. I've been viewing sites that support this belief. I worry that I might be getting carried away, though. I worry that I might be entering an echo chamber.

I've been trapped in an echo chamber before. I've lacked all perspective, but to people on the outside it was obvious.

Both sides, the authoritarians pushing PC culture and the cultural libertarians, snipe at each other. I'm not above the fray myself, at least not in my mind. I try to be very careful of what I publish here (for the consideration of my ten regular readers) but in private I seem to take great pleasure in the other side's missteps. 

That's not Stoic. Probably a better view would be to treat the other side with kindness and do what I can to bring them around, because ultimately I think that liberty brings more happiness than dogma. 

Well then, isn't my duty to bring this insight to the general public? A Stoic serves his* city, right?

If I were to become more vocal, and if (against all odds) I gained a wide audience, I would risk saying the wrong thing and incurring public shame. These days that's not an inconsiderable thing. 

I'm lucky, I suppose, that my opinion means very little. I'm one in a chorus of millions. Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and especially Cato led very public lives and their decisions are still discussed. Aurelius paid for the security of his empire with his health. Seneca and Cato killed themselves. Cato (who was unwilling to live in a world ruled by a tyrant) met an especially difficult end (source):

"Cato did not immediately die of the wound; but struggling, fell off the bed, and throwing down a little mathematical table that stood by, made such a noise that the servants, hearing it, cried out. And immediately his son and all his friends came into the chamber, where, seeing him lie weltering in his own blood, great part of his bowels out of his body, but himself still alive and able to look at them, they all stood in horror. The physician went to him, and would have put in his bowels, which were not pierced, and sewed up the wound; but Cato, recovering himself, and understanding the intention, thrust away the physician, plucked out his own bowels, and tearing open the wound, immediately expired."

That's a heavy price to pay for a political opinion, self-imposed though it was. I certainly wouldn't have to do that. 

I do censor myself online for fear of retribution, though, and I bet you do too.

If I ever do incur the wrath of an online which hunt I plan to use Jon Ronson's advice. He's written a book called "So You've Been Publicly Shamed."  He recently did an interview with GQ in which he discusses the public shaming phenomenon, and I think it's worth a read. My favorite quote neatly sums up the dangers of our new shame culture:

"It’s very destructive to society and I think it’s created a conformist, conservative, fearful surveillance society, like the Stasi, and nobody wants to live in a Stasi state, and that’s the world we’re quite literally living in. I really don’t think I’m overreaching when I say that."

I agree.


*I wince as I type this. Do I go with the classical "his?" Do I use the clumsy and grammatically aberrant "their?" How about the limp, insipid "his or her?" Or I could go postmodern with "his/her?" Perhaps the Swedish gender neutral "hen?" Maybe "xe?"