The Sense of Shame

It's a topic on my deck for later. So more later on this (possibly, depending on my mood). But as a preview, I declare that the Americans have lost the sense of shame. It's an unfortunate sham. Because shame is the beginning of Manners and manners is a prerequisite for a civilized society. Shame applies to and should be criminally enforced on loud people (at movies, bars, restaurants, etc.), ungroomed people, unstylish people, uneducated people (who think that their opinions weigh the same as learned people), to cruelty, to vulgarity without class... to people who breed at will (akin to this mortgage mess that we're in-- in over their heads) without understanding the consequence of their libido and base offsprings upon society.

Manners matter and shame whips manners into shape. To me, math and science in schools is moronic. We will lose in that field of battle. Done. India and China will always win on that field... do the math... billions of them. We need to teach manners and encourage creativity (in addition to math and science). Opera once a month, etiquette classes every week, ballroom dancing once a day, charming conversation(s) (which is the fruit of these activities) every hour. [hmmm... 'charm' that could be an interesting topic for a blog in itself?].

The sense of shame has to be taught daily and rigorously.