When the new puppy makes a mistake — piddles on the floor, dines on your Adidas, digs up the flower bed — we correct the bad behavior with our tone of voice. We let the puppy know our displeasure by the way we say “Shame on you!” uttered with great incrimination and a pointed finger. Of course, the dog doesn’t get “shame.” But the dog does eventually get the tone of voice, the displeasure, the “idea” that somehow he/she is “in the doghouse.”

Parents work hard to perfect this tone, to instill a “shame on you” sensibility in their children. “Shame” is one way kids learn to distinguish right and wrong actions and attitudes.

But sometimes “shame on you!” can go too far.

In ancient near eastern cultures, the rules of “shame” and “honor” were inviolable. Without modernity’s fashion accessor…