What is that?
Statements such as “it is very humiliating for so and so” when it was others – not so and so – who did something really stupid or embarrassing to someone else made me realize that “humiliation” is as ill-defined as dignity.
When I explored dignity, it became clear to me that dignity is so personal that it can only be defined by the person it applies to. A life in dignity hence is one in which one can make one’s own decisions and opinions and communicate them, also when communicating them is not easy.
Humiliation, on the other hand, has little to do with the person or persons it is about. It is fully defined by the person or persons who find something humiliating, for someone else. What it does is express the opinion that the other person is perceived as a lesser human or a lesser being.
It’s hilarious when a pet has something on his head or a person has a piece of paper on his back, just a friendly slap and presto. But the pet or person is not aware of it, so it’s got nothing to do with the being that is perceived as experiencing humiliation.
When someone is attacked, it can also be perceived as “humiliating” but it has nothing to do with the person who is attacked. It’s entirely in the mind of the perceivers. When I looked into related word, I realized that it seems to be connected to “to bring low”, so maybe it is about making someone appear less than the person actually is.
It’s a really baffling concept when you think about it.
Just consider someone who gets soaked in a rain shower. I once read that it’s an absolute faux pas to show up at a job interview looking as if you’d just been in a shower. That it could be seen as evidence of bad planning or not being very capable. But the fact is that you don’t control the weather and if you plan to get a taxi that will drive you into the parking garage of a building so that you can enter that way, you could get stuck in traffic or find the parking garage temporarily closed. Umbrellas have their limits.
Humiliation is a fascinating concept.
Why is this “humiliating” for the dog? It’s funny. But why do some people call this humiliating for the dog?
This is hilarious, in my eyes. I can’t tell you why the lower photo is hilarious, but it is. In the above photo, it is the discrepancy. Oh, wait, that also applies to the lower photo.
But if it is also humiliating, then why?
This one is terrific, and also hilarious. Is this one also seen as “humiliating”? I bet not.
So humiliation truly is in the eyes of the beholder and as such often says more about the beholder than about the person (or being) they are looking at.
It’s related to otherization, somehow. It’s got something to do with playing with boundaries. It could hold the key to some of the challenges the world is dealing with.
It’s why people like Nigel Farage sometimes get treated to a milkshake or a cake.
(Oh, it’s just happened again! In Clacton, on 4 June. I didn’t know that.)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6pp7yg0y3po
Is it intended to bring them down from their high horse in that case? It’s definitely intended to break their stride. Maybe it’s done to make them feel what they are doing to others. Because their rhetoric whips up a lot of hate and it leads to worse than people throwing milkshakes at them.
