Recently in my rhetoric and Media class, we have been going over social shaming. When technology comes into play, we see this shaming more commonly. Interestingly, I came across an example of this in a essay written 100 years ago when technology was not thought to be a factor in social shaming.
Sir Philip Sidney wrote an essay titled "The Defense of Poesy." In it, he discussed how poetry has such a vital importance in society. At this time, poetry, writing and plays were the most current technology to convey a message. Just like social media today, social shaming was a part of poetry as well. Sidney argues that humor is a vital part of poetry, but only when it is used correctly. He had a negative outlook at many poets in England, because they used social shaming and sinful acts to create synthetic laughter for the audience.
"They stir laughter in sinful things... For what is it to makes folks gape at the wretched beggar and a beggarly clown; or, against law of hospitality, to jest at strangers, because they speak not English so well as we do?" (Sir Philip Sidney 1914).
These examples of social shaming are what we refer to today as punching down; making fun of those who don't have a voice for themselves. We see this today along with the concept of punching up, which is to challenge authority or an established concept. Probably one reason Sidney did not include punching up in his description was because to go against authority was often considered treason, giving a big incentive not to do it.
This example from 100 years ago shows that people find ways to make fun of people for some reason. However, technology determines the scale that it is spread.
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