‘Like so many other people, I suffer from Systemic Shame, the powerful self-loathing belief that says I am to blame for the circumstances I’m living in, and that the only way my problems can be overcome is through individual goodness and grit.” (Unlearning Shame)
Shame and blame are linked through expectations of perfection by a group and this is most clearly created in safety by the ideology of Zero. As sure as you set up people to fail through the nonsense cult of zero and counting injury rates, shame must follow.
When you are never good enough, and fallibility is demonized, shame will always follow.
One thing the safety industry does so well (and why it is not a profession) is, demonize persons through the global mantra of zero. After all, at the global cult of zero in Sydney in 2023, zero was centre stage (https://visionzero.global/vision-zero-takes-centre-stage-world-congress). All wonderfully supported by regulators, associations and sponsors like Forgeworks, Sentis and ICAM Australia (https://safetyrisk.net/the-sponsors-of-zero-are/).
If zero is the mantra then shame is the by-product.
People who are shamed by the language and ideology of zero, can never achieve perfection. This ideology demotivates people through the power present in the psychology of any absurd goal. Then Safety runs about like a mad goose saying ‘believe the impossible’ (https://safetyrisk.net/believe-the-impossible-and-speak-nonsense-to-people/). You couldn’t make up anything less professional and stupid.
Only Safety can be so dumb to project perfectionism onto fallible persons.
How strange all these ‘no blame’ zealots who say nothing about Zero and see no connection between methodology and method.
Price (P7) comments:
‘No matter how hard we work or how ardently we strive to be moral, Systemic Shame looms all around us in our culture, telling us that we are lazy, selfish, disgusting, and untrustworthy, and that all the problems we’re facing in life are completely our fault.’
This is what happens when the ideology of zero is defined as safety (https://safetyrisk.net/understanding-cults-and-safety-zero/). When safety defined as a number the result is that Safety starts counting. And every report of any injury rate confirms the hidden nature of systemic shame.
Price (P7) comments:
‘Systemic Shame is a lingering emotional wound. But it’s also an ideology about how the world works—a deeply damaging one that keeps us distracted and unhappy. It is closely linked to the Puritanical belief that morality is simple and absolute’.
This is where a lack of an ethic of risk in the safety industry comes in. Without a well articulated ethic, Safety makes any injury or harm evil, and this is nonsense. The presence of harm is not a demonstration of a lack of safety. Harm is an essential in fallible living and is foundational for learning in human personhood. In fallibility, harm is understood as a blessing.
Price (P7) comments:
‘Systemic Shame also tells us that we must obsess over our personal habits, choices, and purchases, because every action we take carries intense moral weight with it. According to Systemic Shame, the fate of the world rests upon every single decision we make. No matter how much we care about injustice and other people, Systemic Shame will always be there to convince us that we are failing to live up to those values—that we aren’t committing adequate resources, doing enough for other people, or working sufficiently hard.’
We see the creation if this obsession everywhere in safety indeed, Safety tells us it is good to be obsessed! (https://safetyrisk.net/dont-be-obsessed-with-safety/). You couldn’t make this s^#t up!
Without an ethic of risk, Safety still runs around telling people obsession is good for you! No wonder Safety loves the discourse of ‘just culture’. The perfect language to couple to zero to systematically shame people!
If you are interested in an approach to safety that rejects zero and all the nonsense that goes with it, you can start by reading any of the free downloads offered by SPoR (https://www.humandymensions.com/shop/). SPoR has no interest in systemic shame but rather offers constructive, ethical and positive methods to tackle risk (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/spor-and-semiotics/).
Dr Rob Long
Latest posts by Dr Rob Long (see all)
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