Dying of Embarrassment
December 1 2011, 2:48 PM
Do you know there are people who choose to die in a burning building rather than run ouside with their pants off? Embarrasment and the fear of violating apparently trivial norms often lock us into intolerable predicaments. And these are not minor regulatory forces in social life, but basic ones.
[...]
If you think it is easy to violate social constraints, get onto a bus and sing out loud.
Full-throated song now, no humming. Many people will say it is easy to carry out this act, but not one in a hundred will be able to do it.