Looking around this morning, I’m aware that the ability to shame people, or use victim status to get others to change, has stopped working.

(Note that I’m back to taking screenshots because Twitter removes things).

Instead of being shamed, what happens is that people pull out the memes and double down, enjoying th discomfort. They are deliberately trolling and triggering people.

Here’s the reality: holocaustianity has timed out. No one under the age of 40 cares any more about it than they do about the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. A lot of them don’t care about being called racist or sexist, so why would they care about being called anti-semitic? They think being called a Nazi by lame old people is hilarious; their usual response is to bury the accuser in dank memes full of images that would give the average Baby Boomer a stroke.

The shame game is over. This is the new reality. Deal with it or deny it, but it’s here to stay regardless.

Now shame, particularly godly sorrow, is useful. It motivates us to change. It makes us seek mercy. The question has to be why is this not working.

Cane has a suggestion: people think mercy is a right. It is akin to demanding from your parents a fast car for your birthday, despite the fact you have no ability to drive it, or that you parents cannot afford it.

Understand that what Pro-Life groups and other abortion apologists are seeking is a way to keep women from having to ask for mercy. Instead they demand it. Anyone guilty of any crime can ask for mercy. It’s legal and everything. No one–not myself, not Zippy, not Trump–have spoken against mercy for women who killed their children in ignorance, or under duress. But demanding mercy destroys the opportunity for mercy to do its work because anyone in a position to demand mercy can’t actually use it.

If mercy is a right, not an act of grace, then one is shameless. And if someone who is shameless tries to use guilt as a lever, one feels minaulated. And there will be pushback.

For it is not merely your brothers and sisters who are mocked, but God.