A Twitch streamer asserts in their “rules” section that someone like me is a “bigot” for daring to make someone feel bad about their “religion.” Of course, I try to avoid attacking people directly (it’s just rude) but just saying, “Adam Sandler was never funny” got me banned from one channel because of “comedian shaming” apparently.
You’re not a bigot just because you disagree with someone’s religion, or weight, or thoughts on the geometric shape of the Earth.
Saying “you are a moron for being Christian” is definitely mean and out of bounds, but so is saying “you are a moron if you think the Earth is flat.”
How about the generalizations that people make about obesity: “fat people are unattractive and hurt everyone”; “morbidly obese people are bad for society?” Are those also “fat shaming?” What about “I don’t find myself being attracted to most fat people.” Is that “fat shaming?”
Back to religion. What if the religion calls for human sacrifice? Can I shame it then? Can I start a war to root those practices (from that religion) out of our society?
What about the Mormons and polygamy? Didn’t everyone just “religion shame” Mormons for taking more than one wife? Many early Mormon polygamous families lived just fine, many where horrible. Did all those polygamy haters qualify for “religion shaming?”
I’m tired of this dont-hurt-anyone’s-feelings stuff. It is the antithesis of a progressive society (even though many claim to be progressive).
Progress is painful and involves disagreement and hurt feelings when people make statements about things we hold dear to our hearts and identities. It doesn’t mean they are specifically hating or attacking us (and never has meant that). Besides, society constantly decides what is and isn’t okay to hate on. History if full of examples.
It’s really about intent. “Shaming” is a direct attack targeted at an individual for being a certain way instead of targeting the “shameful” thing itself, like Scientology, or flying airplanes into buildings, or buying yachts with the “widows’ mites” you have stolen from trusting followers.
However, even if the intent is malicious, people are completely free to be assholes by one person’s definition just as those people who think they are assholes are free to control their own exposure to those assholes. Freedom to and freedom from can co-exist if we do this right and give individuals control over what they hear, how they engage, and their ability to disengage.