You can't watch a television talk show without agreeing with Powell that shamelessness has taken over society. But you can't watch someone paralyzed by shame over past evils they have committed or endured without believing, like Allison, that shame kills. It's a tough question to answer, partly because we don't quite understand the nature of shame. It's a primal, universal feeling, the first emotion mentioned in the Bible. But when they eat from the Tree of Knowledge, they immediately run for cover, patching together fig leaf aprons to hide their shame.
Shame is equally elemental in psychology.
It's part of our biological inheritance, along with anger, fear and joy. Shame is the searing realization that we've done something so seriously wrong that it calls our very essence into question. By contrast, embarrassment is a tickle in the psychic throat. We feel goofy and awkward in the throes of embarrassment. But when we expose our shame, others avert their eyes and leave the room.