SBR Top-Rated Sportsbooks
Woman sentenced to carry the 'idiot' sign is just the tip of an idiot culture
http://www.cleveland.com/morris/inde...rry_the_i.html
I tried to ignore Shena Hardin. I really did. This region and nation are confronted with far more pressing issues than her brand of recklessness.
But as I watched her coolly light up a cigarette on camera Tuesday, before casually hoisting a handwritten sign that properly declared her an "idiot" for failing to stop for a Cleveland school bus, I could only marvel at Hardin's remarkable disinterest and aloofness before the condemning eyes of the public.
It was like she was flipping us all her proverbial finger. Her demeanor clearly suggested that criminal selfishness is no reason for shame. She was acting like too many faces I now see in the crowd. I couldn't ignore her.
It wasn't just the fact that she cut quite an image in her fashionable sunglasses, knee-high boots and choice in hats. She was dressed for an afternoon at the mall.
It wasn't that she played on her phone and smoked while carrying out the public humiliation part of her sentence. Apparently the sentence crafted by Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Pinkey S. Carr didn't prevent Hardin from multitasking.
The Plain DealerShena Hardin was ordered by Cleveland Municipal Judge Pinkey Carr to stand at East 38th Street and Superior Avenue in Cleveland with a sign that reads "Only an idiot would drive on the sidewalk to avoid a school bus."
<!-- IE6 HACK --><!-- IE6 HACK -->
What was most disturbing, and enlightening, was her obvious I-don't-care attitude. I don't know if Shena Hardin has children. But her posture made it clear that despite her declaration of idiocy she still doesn't care about the lives of other people's children.
She doesn't care about the lives she potentially put at risk each time she drove on a sidewalk, next to a day care center, to avoid stopping for a bus.
What also was clear from her animated casualness was that she wasn't the least bit shamed at being forced to stand for an hour at the corner of East 38th Street and Superior Avenue with a sign that read: "Only an idiot would drive on the sidewalk to avoid a school bus."
Hardin realized, of course, that her story had gone viral – as these sorts of ridiculous stories often do – so rather than feign shame or an apologetic posture -- she decided to just play it brazenly cool for the cameras.
She decided to pose – rather than demonstrate even a shred of remorse -- for her 15 seconds of "idiot" shame. I would surmise that means she remains unrehabilitated.
Unfortunately, Shena Hardin is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the reckless indifference so many Americans demonstrate, in and out of our cars. We live in a culture that is increasingly remorseless and without shame.
This indifference appears to have little to do with race, class or age. The idea of being a good neighbor, a responsible fellow American or someone who responds positively to the potential for shaming has grown archaic – especially when no cameras are around.
It doesn't matter whether it's the director of the CIA potentially compromising the security of the nation with a casual affair or an RTA bus passenger willing to endanger the lives of others for a free ride, the welfare of fellow Americans has rarely been treated with greater rank indifference.
And that is the point. When a society or a culture loses the ability to employ shame as a disincentive for reprobates, that society has lost one of its most powerful tools of public persuasion.
That's why Shena Hardin was driving on the sidewalk. That is why she was on camera Tuesday smirking with her "idiot" sign.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by BuckeyeKaptn
