I found a selfish reason to promote a cause that didn't seem initially logical to my circumstances at first. This understanding is what made the question of shame such a difficult one for me. People fell into the same category as I initially did shame was accepted, even necessary. If it had underpinnings, I didn't have to worry about them, because everyone else had done the worrying for me. I have done the analysis, and I feel that shame is a value, but for different reasoning than that articulated in class or by my friends.
Shame is a personal value, one that people attempt to apply to others.
No matter its rationalization, its focus is to inhibit action. I think that inhibition is appropriate, but that its direction should change. Shame should be a value in the information age that one applies to oneself. Be ashamed if you judge first. Instead of using race or age or sex, now in a society being built upon avatars, people are making even more irrational, outlandish value-less judgments.