A feat of strength and skill (or just to attract attention), or to limit the growth of something. Yes, one definition is something that pushes the limits while the other definition is something that limits. English.
AnimalsDogsPuppyI'm tiredChristmas hangoverThe Shiba says "Bye Bye"?
On the last week of the year, we usually try to feature things that a) stuck with us this year and b) may be a little more mature in their outlook. Today, to kick things off, we have Helen Andrews' stunner of an essay, "Shame Storm", from a month ago.
No one has yet figured out what rules should govern the new frontiers of public shaming that the Internet has opened. New rules are obviously required. Shame is now both global and permanent, to a degree unprecedented in human history. No more moving to the next town to escape your bad name. However far you go and however long you wait, your disgrace is only ever a Google search away. Getting a humiliating story into the papers used to require convincing an editor to run it, which meant passing their standards of newsworthiness and corroborating evidence. Those gatekeepers are now gone. Most attempts so far to devise new rules have taken ideology as their starting point: Shaming is okay as long as it’s directed at men by women, the powerless against the powerful. But that doesn’t address what to do afterward, if someone is found to have been wrongfully shamed, or when someone rightfully shamed wants to put his life back together.
Through personal anecdote, analysis, and even a little theology, Andrews explores the shame-filled world of 2018. But it's not just the capital-I importance of the piece. The essay is brilliantly written. From sentence to structure, the essay sings. It's well worth the twenty minutes it'll take to read it and the twenty more it'll take to absorb. Go check it out over at First Things.
EssaysBest of yearShameHelen AndrewsDriftwood, meet hurricane#ItWillSomedayBeEachOfUs?