Is The Individual Who Shamed Amanda Todd Ethical?

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Reading the case about Amanda Todd has raised me this one questions. Was it ethical for the individuals who shamed Amanda Todd?
In this case, I will dispute that the people that shamed Amanda Todd was not ethical and went too far in doing so.
Before I expand on the stance of my answer, I want to break down and explain what shaming is and why people shame. According to the article from Lydia Woodyatt, “The Power of Public Shaming for the good and the ill”, shame is “painful feeling associated with a negative evaluation of the self: that you are bad, flawed, inappropriate, or less than what you ought to be.”. Society shames others to help communicate the violators of the norm. It lets them know that they are being punished for the violation …show more content…

Amanda just needed someone to talk to but she had a difficult time receiving help because the extreme bullying prevented her from having any friends. According to the article from Lydia Woodyatt, “The Power of Public Shaming for the good and the ill”, “shaming can be reintegrative. Where attention is drawn to a wrongdoing, or perceived wrongdoing, in such a way as to communicate respect for the person by people who love, care and accept the person, it opens up the possibility of repair.”. There will always be flaws because others will always have different perspective and might lack. They did not give her a chance to repair from the action that she violated. The purpose of shame is to communicate the violator of its norm by shaming them to discourage the behavior. Even though she realized that what she did was wrong and learned her lesson they continued to shame her. Verbally or physically giving respect, accepting, and understand Amanda that no one is perfect could’ve saved her …show more content…

People believe that they are being ethical but don’t realize but they are contradiction on their own values because they are contributing to the damages that it causes. According Irina Raicu’s “Ethics of Online Shaming”, “sometimes the people who start an online shaming “wave” later regret their action. Regret in this case, seems to be recognition of the fact that their own actions didn’t match up with their values.”. Especially in a world of social media, even after the violator realized their mistake and shamer wants to forgive, the damages are already done and will continue to impact the person life. People may just have wanted to teach her a lesson that what she did was morally wrong but in the end this causes contradiction in their own values because they ended up destroying another person’s life. Amanda Todd dealt with anxiety, depression and panic attack that resulted from shaming and ultimately her life which cannot

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