The return of shame?

One thing in the Sunday L. A. Times that can often be good is the Parade magazine. This week's cover article is on the question of whether shame can be a good thing. What's really being spoken of here is the return of the virtues of modesty, decency, courtesy and humility, and with them the feeling of shame that we ought to experience when we violate them. Since the 60s, Western society has been on something of a jihad against traditional restraints, to the point where we now can scarcely find any restraints left to rebel against. The result has been a corresponding loss of romance, honor, dignity and respect in our relationships with each other, leaving a flatness and ugliness in their place and causing a proliferation of violence and pornography in an effort to restore interest to otherwise boring relationships. I'm glad people are beginning to see that this is not a good thing and that we ought perhaps to consider returning to a older, more restrained and more attractive lifestyle.

Check here for the article (which will be posted after March 7th) and here for a book that makes this point in much greater depth.