February 5, 2024
Shame Will Save the World
“Shame will save the world” – often translated as “Shame, the feeling that will save mankind” – is what the character of Kris Kelvin utters near the end of Solaris, the film by Andrei Tarkovsky.
Can shame save the world?
For Dostoevsky, it was beauty that would perform that miracle. However, as a Greek blogger has said, beauty will save those who can see it. I tend to agree with this variation much more readily.
In any case, there is a point in selecting shame as the better candidate. I realized it going through a list of freelance jobs with ridiculously underpaid remuneration – think of $5 to produce 1500 words of text. Reading this I said out loud: “I would be embarrassed to offer that”.
And that’s when I realized the role of shame in saving the world.
Shame Will Save the World: Morality and Growth
As you well know, if you’re a long-term reader of the blog, I am fiercely anti-growth. I mean:
Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.
Edward Abbey
Yet our societies seem to be locked inside an infinite loop from hell where it’s not enough to simply be happy with what you’ve got. It’s often not even about greed: An employer might be operating with the best intentions, that is, without being greedy, but unless they can grow enough, they will be swallowed by those who are.
In this context, more and more small and medium businesses seem to operate on the principle of “eliminate expenses before anything else”. And because there’s only so much you can cut from raw materials, rent, etc., sooner or later the axe falls on human resources, that is, the employee.
It’s a tale as old as, well, not time, but certainly capitalism.
Should We Be Embarrassed about Paying Someone too Little?
Yes, we should; that’s the easy answer.
The more complex answer is: Yes, we should; but we need to define a few things first.
The first thing, which is easier to tackle, is what constitutes “too little”. To some extent, this is subjective both in individual and social terms. In other words, for two equally educated and skilled persons in the same country, a remuneration of $30 for a given task might be seen as too little by one and just right by the other.
Similarly when we consider the globalization of labor, $30 will hold much different value in Finland compared to, say, Nigeria. $30 might be good money in the latter, but I guarantee you, in Finland it’s not enough even for two people to eat at the local pubI’m looking at the menu of my local pub: The veggie burger is 19.90 euros (~$21.80). If two people wanted to have a burger and a pint of beer each, the total would be about $60. Meanwhile in Nigeria, as I see on this page, $30 would be more than enough for two people two have a 3-course meal at a mid-level restaurant..
The second thing to consider – which is also the hardest – is what “being embarrassed” really implies here. A person can be embarrassed, fully admitting they’re doing something wrong, yet still do it. In some sense “being embarrassed” alone doesn’t save the world. The idea is to be embarrassed enough to not do the thing that embarrasses you.
In plain terms, we need to be embarrassed enough for our morality to overcome everything else.
Shame to Save the World: On Responsibility and Personal Morality
There are no easy answers.
You can’t be both peaceful and free.
There are no heroes.
These and other such similar realizations is what separate us from true knowledge – even if it’s only knowledge of inability, knowledge of our absurd state.
I don’t know if shame will save the world. At the very least, I’m highly skeptical of the ability of enough people to feel shame. I’ve even made a Punning Walrus cartoon about it:
But shame can save you. And few things are more liberating than being able to see yourself in the mirror and feel contentment, albeit wistful.