A summer of public shaming
AS far as anyone can ascertain, official government policy right now seems to be to shame coronavirus out of Ireland. Of course, shame has long been a popular way of ridding Ireland of unwanted problems. When the church, or the State, or insular homogeneous communities, wanted to bring anyone who dared to differ into line, they would tap into that hidden residue of shame that powers the Irish psyche. Even Irish parents did it: “I’m not angry with you. I’m just disappointed in you.” And the child would shrink away, humiliated and shamefaced, storing up issues for the years ahead.
Right now, it is legal to take a foreign holiday. Planes are flying again, holidays are for sale, there may even be a list of ‘safe’ countries issued at some stage. But people are being left in no doubt that the authorities, and all of us, will be really disappointed in anyone who does take a foreign holiday. They will be letting everyone down. And will be shunned by all right-thinking people. They will have broken no law, but they will be tried in the court of public opinion, and they will be found guilty of treason, selfishness, fecklessness, and vanity. We will all be deeply concerned about their questionable morals. Ironically, back in the day, these people would have had to take the boat to England.
The authorities are not actually mandating the public stoning of such people, but they are passiveaggressively giving it the nod. Ireland’s innate passive-aggressiveness goes hand-in-hand with our shaming. No one will quite say it to your face when you come back from Portugal, but there will be pointed comments, squinting windows, and maybe some crossing over to the other side of the road. Before there was even a word for it, the Irish were experts at gaslighting. If you ask anyone if they have a problem with you going to the Costa del Sol, they will smile and say not at all. As if it’s all in your head. But you will be left in no doubt that you should have toughed it out in the rain down the west with the rest of us.
The trouble with running a country on shame is that shame becomes a virus. We have already targeted various sectors of society for shaming in recent months. Cocooners who dared to go out during the lockdown got glares. People with small children in shops faced muttering. Young people, alongside jet setters, are currently being blamed for the continued existence of Covid here. Parents, too, are accused of selfish laziness and irresponsibility for wanting their children to go back to school. In many parts of rural Ireland, localism has taken hold, with mini civil wars developing between those who want tourists to come to save their livelihoods, and those who think outsiders should stay away. It’s even bleeding into politics. We were shaming idealistic Greens for refusing to go into Government, while now every politician and every parish who didn’t get a minister is shaming Micheal and Leo.
Shame can be very convenient when you refuse to deal with an issue head on. But state-mandated shaming could create a deeply toxic atmosphere this summer when we least need it. Much healthier would be the clarity of the rule of law.