Nadia Bartel: some shaming is a good thing

Breaching lockdown rules-and then doing it a second time in 48 hours after an apology for the first breach-is role-modelling behaviour that says to the public and to her followers "lockdowns don't matter". It suggests that the rules are unimportant.

This is obviously unfortunate at a time in which the lockdown is a necessary, vital component in public health to keep pressures off the hospitals and hard-working medical staff while the long-delayed vaccinations to reduce the severity and hospital impact are rolled out across Victoria.

Being shamed by the Premier is, therefore, a necessary remedy to the damage Bartel's actions may have done to the credibility and demands of the-however difficult-of the public health restrictions.

That shaming, however, should not be understood as a call for large members of the public to engage in a mass pile-on of hate, anger and condemnation.

Shaming plays an important role in helping to communicate and encourage debate on public standards and expectations, such as when a public figure has, however well-meaning or unthinking, appeared in dehumanising blackface. But public shaming has its limits, too, in the era of instanteous digital reactions and fast-response which can result in aggressive nad hostile mob-like pile-ons that themselves de-humanise, wound and are increasingly recognised as causing harm to the target in unprecedented ways. In extreme cases, suicide.

Online mob shaming and pile-ons are not public debate. At best, they actually promote the person being shamed by making them a victim, increasing their following and boosting their brand. At worst, they position the victim to see themselves as no longer having a worthwhile life, causing mental health and possible self-harm.

At this point, it is likely safest and best to have witnessed the necessary shaming of Nadia Bartel done by our parliamentary representatives and government officers, and leave off with the pile-on.