Opprobrium is something that is shameful and causes rejection.
Opprobrium is a concept that is used to name a dishonor , an offense , a grievance or an infamy . The term can be used as a synonym for ignominy . For example: “The official's statements were a disgrace to the entire community,” “We will not allow a new disgrace on his part,” “To overcome this disgrace, we only have to work and work.”
Certain issues can be classified as a disgrace because they are embarrassing. If, in an impoverished country, the president builds a luxurious mansion as a government palace, it may be indicated that said construction is a disgrace to the people .
Opprobrium can also be public rejection or aggression . It can be said that opponents of a government suffer the opprobrium of the authorities when they seek the oppression of those who do not think like them and, therefore, appeal to different mechanisms of persecution, censorship and repression .
Personal and social opprobrium
It should be noted that opprobrium can be experienced on a personal or social level. A mother may feel opprobrium if her son becomes a criminal and lives outside the margins of the law despite having been raised and educated with affection. For society in general, various problems can be considered a disgrace: child labor, human trafficking, etc.
What is opprobrious, in short, produces shame or disappointment for some reason. It could be said that disgrace is the opposite of pride , which is a positive feeling. Just as a person's intention will be to avoid actions that cause disgrace, they will want to repeat or reproduce those that generate pride.
Child labor is often considered a disgrace.
war times
During periods of war, complaints often arise from the various sides regarding the treatment that their soldiers receive when they are taken prisoner by the opposing army. So much so that images often appear that reveal torture and mistreatment that are observed and criticized by human rights protection organizations.
During the Iraq War , for example, images were shown in which the American army could be seen inflicting disgrace on Iraqi prisoners . These documents were investigated by the US Navy in order to clarify this matter; These were images in which American soldiers could be seen severely mistreating Iraqi soldiers in the Abu Ghraib prison. It is believed that these acts were committed during a capture operation . As happens when these types of dramatic events occur, an investigation was opened into what happened in those photos that appeared in 2003 .
Opprobrium, religion and human rights
In some countries where very strict religions are professed, those acts linked to sexual freedom are considered a disgrace. In this way, homosexuals are persecuted as well as women who decide to abandon their husbands. In many of these countries the penalties for having committed a disgrace can range from whipping in public spaces, so that all the people know what is not acceptable to do, and, in some places, it can reach capital punishment.
Human rights organizations work every day to eradicate these types of extremist actions that do not take into account the individual freedom of people; However, this fight is not easy since most of these countries take refuge in the fact that it is a decision linked to the religion they profess and no one in the world can understand it better than them. In any case, the advances that have been made in recent years show that there is a greater degree of awareness in the world regarding the freedoms of each individual.