Hidden Shame as a Weapon of Mass Destruction

by Thomas J. Scheff (March 2013)

Our lives are mostly ruled by assumptions we make about reality.
Some are true, but many are completely false.
We can’t tell the difference.
One tiny one concerns yawning.
We all are sure that we yawn when we are bored, sleepy, tired, or need oxygen.
Scientists have shown that none of these ideas are true:
The reason for yawning is unknown.
This false belief doesn’t flatten the earth,
Even though it might not be good for our health
To the extent that it helps to inhibit us from yawning whenever needed.
Even in public.
More flattening is the idea that venting anger
Gets it off our chest, even though this idea has been repeatedly demonstrated
In experiments to be untrue virtually every time it happens.
To the extent that we believe in and do it,
It can cause dangerous and unnecessary aggression, injury, and even death.
Still more flattening is the belief that we must support our troops
And our government when they kill more than a million people
With no justification whatever, as they did in Iraq.
As long as we make that kind of assumption,
The earth will remain flat.

The French people appeared to be still smarting from their loss of the Franco-Prussian War (1871), which was widely felt to have been a humiliation. The French popular literature and media were exploding with honor/revenge themes.

One of the top politicians, General Boulanger, was known in the press as General Revenge. The war poems of P. Deroulede, Chants du Soldat (Songs of a Soldier, 1872) were wildly popular. Here is a sample stanza:

Revenge will come, perhaps slowly
Perhaps with fragility, yet a strength that is sure
For bitterness is already born and force will follow
And cowards only the battle will ignore.

By 1890 this book had gone through an unprecedented 83 editions, which suggests that everyone in France would have been familiar with it.

The idea of humiliation and revenge seems to have also played a central part in the rise of Hitler in Germany after their defeat in 1918. It was certainly a key theme of his writing and speeches.

In our current world, ideas of honor, humiliation, and revenge are not used as justifications of war even in the popular media, much less in governments. However, it is possible that the same processes continue, but hidden from sight.

Social-emotional Causes of Conflict

My own interest in this question began long ago in connection with teaching the social psychology of emotions. When we discussed embarrassment and blushing in the larger classes, there were usually one or two students who complained that their blushing sometimes made them miserable. They explained that when they became aware that they were blushing, they would be further embarrassed about their blushing, no matter the cause of the first blush. Often the same students implied that their blushing about their blush was not only lengthy and painful, but also often seemed out of their control.

This comment by a 20 year old female student provides an example:

A Cybernetic Theory

 What's Love Got to Do with It?: The Emotional World of Popular Songs (Boulder: Paradigm Publishers) 2011

here.

here.

If you have enjoyed this article and want to read more by Thomas J. Scheff, please click here.