Facing the aggressive scope of shame

Whatever moves us human beings, “shame” is undoubtedly one of the most powerful emotions to make us act the way we do. More often than not this emotion stirs us under cover, that is, we tend not to acknowledge it as such a commanding impetus. Shame–i.e. the malicious mixture of feelings of sadness, fear, and anger–is the result of forms of ostracism, social exclusion, and rejection, which, inevitably, feed the fear of more humiliating experiences. We are horrified by this painful experience. We exert ourselves to avoid it. However, more often than not we are not successful in warding off all substantial humiliations, and then, given particular conditions, we are especially likely to become aggressive, or even violent. There are quite a number of significant manifestations of shame. Of these violence is one; particularly threatening, yet meant to channel shame. In order to cope with its consequences preventive, counteractive, therapeutic, disciplinary, and/or penalising acts require facing the aggressive scope of shame.