“When did America get this cruel?” This lament was printed in last weekend’s Chicago Tribune, in a piece credited to the outlet’s Editorial Board.

In her essay about the recent exposure of an affair on a Coldplay concert’s kiss cam, Ms. Schulman exhibits a common and troubling misunderstanding of the distinction between shame and humiliation.

The episode resulted in endless memes, parody videos and screenshots of the pair’s shocked faces filling social media feeds.