The Power of Shame

karen57 · August 13, 2015, 1:56am

Scott6:

Also, I’m a bit curious about your statement

It’s true of course, but when the bullies are the high and mighty know it all bloggers, it paints a new definition of bully for me.

Are you saying that I shouldn’t have posted my opinion because I blog? Or are you considering me a bully because I did criticize and shame a group of people for their behavior? The main reason that I took this approach is (1) to make others aware of the potential hurt their actions cause, even when they feel it is for the benefit of someone they love. (2) People should feel ashamed of their behavior in this case.

This type of thing, as you yourself alluded to, is an ongoing issue within the DOC. I’ve seen a lot of these over the years and almost all of them have been started by a Type 1, often a newly diagnosed one who is struggling to understand what his life is really like now compared to what the all the wives-tales they’ve heard have said. Personally, I was diagnosed in 1970 and one of the first things I learned was that I’d go bling, lose a leg and die probably before I got to college.

I was not saying any of the stuff you heard, Scott6. I was alluding to the non stop blogs and blahgs that came from that gig:

The current count is well over 1/2 a million hits…and growing

Brian_BSC · August 13, 2015, 11:50am

I basically said nothing on the Crossfit debacle. Here is what I said at one point:

I have to say that I basically declined to enter this whole “kerfuffle.” It really made me sad. We fight so hard against misconceptions related to diabetes. Those with Type 1 rightly wish that the public would understand that their condition is a result of an autoimmune attack. And those with Type 2 rightly wish to not be incorrectly accused of causing their diabetes through poor lifestyle and personal choices. Unfortunately in this situation both sides displayed misconceptions and sadly a lack of empathy. Nobody deserves a chronic condition. The diabetes community really needs to change the conversation away from blame and shame and towards empathy and empowerment. This should have been a teaching moment and it wasn’t.

That word “empathy.” That is vitally important. We are a support community. When people come here and talk about their feelings of stigma, shame and blame, their feelings of depression or of failure we need to speak with empathy. We need to change the conversation about diabetes (and other chronic conditions) and we should start here in our community.