Essay Example on Public Shaming

I love the company of good friends. I have been a fun loving person from a tender age. I get along with many people. My caring nature has always been what defines me. Whenever any of my friends gets in o a trouble I do my best to bail them out. However, I am keen to select friends who do not cause me any public embarrassment since I care a lot about my reputation.

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Two weeks ago my friends and I attended a musical event. We were having a time of our lives. We were dancing and singing along as loud as we could. All of a sudden, I noticed that two of my friends were smoking public and in the company of two strangers. The people around us who had also attended the show started complaining. A couple of them even moved away after trying in vain to condemn and stop the smokers. I was not at all pleased by this behavior, and so I tried to talk calmly to my friends to halt the act. I suggested that they should go to the smoking zone as it is a bad habit to smoke in a public place.

In the speed of lightning, one of the bouncers came and grabbed one of my friends by the neck. He demanded to know why they were smoking in a public space instead of moving to the smoking one. He was angry as a bear, and his voice was shivering as he talked and manhandled my friends and the other two guys. The bouncer continued shaking my friend as everyone stared. He was severely inflamed. His face darkened, and his eyes reddened. I was scared and ashamed at the same time. My friends looked like little-scared children.

"You should be ashamed of yourselves" the bouncer ranted in anger. Some people supported him and also verbally attacked the smokers. "Who smokes in public" a group of ladies behind me chorused in unison. All the while a few people were taking photographs and videos using their Smartphones. It took the intervention of a few other people and me to stop the bouncer from publicly shaming the four. They also had to beg for his forgiveness and mercy, but he continued his roughness for a few more minutes. A middle-aged man kept talking and indirectly insulting my friends on their act even long after the incidence was over, and music started playing.

Within a few minutes, those who had taken pictures and video of the occurrence had uploaded them on social media. For the next two days that followed my friends was the laughing stock of the town. They suffered public shaming on social media. They were trending in different social media platforms where all kinds of nasty jokes, words and insults were directed at them. They stayed indoors because they were too ashamed and afraid to step out and meet the army of people boiling to insult them yet again.

This experienced taught me about the negative impact of public shaming on the victim's self-esteem. It can kill one's desire to continue living or even to meet people known to him or her. It is the worst kind of humiliation that an individual can experience. Though some people think that it is the best way to punish those who misbehave it can completely destroy the victim and those who love and care for him or her.