For shame; don’t feel that way! Sanctioning shame in public debate
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52610/rhs.v22i78.44Keywords:
shame, public debate, refugees, patriotism, identification, negative emotionsAbstract
This article contributes to scholarship on emotions in political rhetoric by way of complicating commonly held views on which types of emotions are appropriate in public debate. The article examines the feeling shame from two perspectives, each rhetorically and critically oriented: one is analytical, the other theoretical. The case material comes from Danish politics where a group of celebrities stated to the press that they felt ashamed on account of Denmark’s policy regarding refugees and immigrants. Based in analysis of the public reaction from the Prime Minister I show how the feeling shame and those who felt it were marked as inappropriate from public debate. In the latter part of the article I theorize on negative emotions and shame in public rhetoric. Drawing on contemporary political philosophy and feminist and queer theory I argue for a more nuanced view on appeals to the emotion shame. Closer reflection suggests that it does not necessarily imply the destructive social distancing one would ordinarily expect but that it has potential as a marker of solidarity with the collective and as such can drive ethical reconsideration.
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