Arnon Grunberg

Shame

Values

“Even if one believes, as I do, that shared values are not essential for a democracy to function, as long as citizen abide the laws, the worry is legitimate when a significant number of people are prepared to break those laws for ideological reasons,” write Ian Buruma in his book “Taming the Gods.”

Today I moderated a panel on democracy, violence, fascism and religion with Ian Buruma and Rob Riemen.
Even after the panel I’m not convinced that shared values are of the essence as long as citizens don’t break the law, indeed. Shame and skepticism are probably equally or perhaps even more important than shared values.

I’m not sure that we need shared values to be ashamed of ourselves.