Word: shaming
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...nothing shameful, nothing harmful" anymore? This is the question Christopher Brown poses in his metapsychological defense of Professor Mansfield's recent indictment of homosexuality. It is an interesting question, indeed a profound one, both for conservatives and liberals alike. Are we, as a society, no longer capable of shame? Brown would have us believe that shame ought to be reserved for matters of sex. It is in this notion that he squanders the value of his liberal education...
...Shame, Christopher, is the feeling one has when one treats another with disgrace and disrespect. Shame is the human experience of realizing that one has acted inhumanely. Shame is the sense of embarrassment and regret that overwhelms each of us when we appreciate how callous we have been, how intolerant or fearful. Shame is what we feel when we are young and mean to one younger, poor and indifferent to one poorer, willing to act superior toward those more rejected than ourselves...
...Shame, Christopher, is the emotion Kenan Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield '53 should feel when--despite the opportunities this world has given him and the honors this university has bestowed upon him--he would place himself above others in the eyes of God. The question is not, should civil rights be extended to gays, lesbians or any sexual minority (which is perhaps an issue of valid political and legal debate). The question is how Mansfield could dare to presume to cast judgment upon an entire group of people--a group of people who have nothing more in common than...
...rather than letting it happen. In either case procreation is considered to be part of a perfect or complete human life. Sex without procreation is imperfect, even though it's fun and permissible (it's never safe). But sex in which procreation is inconceivable is not permissible and is shameful. Where this line is drawn, and whether it includes heterosexual practices, is debatable. But at least the view that sex is for procreation accommodates our sense of shame...
...elevated relationship if it is complete? It is hard to think of the business of conceiving and raising the next generation as merely optional, in which society has no interest. Surely we teachers depend for our livelihood on an ever-renewed supply of young people. And what of shame? Where is the protection--always as difficult to justify as it is indispensable--for human dignity...