SB and I are reading Jon Ronson's new book, "So You've Been Publicly Shamed." Ronson is a long-time journalist whose popular credits include "The Psychopath Test" and "The Men Who Stare at Goats." SB has read a few of his books, but until now I had only ever thought of him as that journalist with a funny name.
The new book about public shaming is fascinating. Online shaming is a strange and complicated phenomenon, and Ronson does his due diligence in exploring it from all angles. He chronicles the stories of people who have been publicly shamed, some exposed as liars and frauds, others just ordinary people whose comments were misunderstood or taken out of context. And in most of these scenarios, public shaming resulted in dismantling someone's life. And yet those who instigate the shaming often feel that they are doing something good and just.
We're not finished with the book yet, but here are a few passages to give you a taste:
"A life had been ruined. What was it for: just some social media drama? I think our natural disposition as humans is to plod along until we get old and stop. But with social media, we've created a stage for constant artificial high drama. Every day a new person emerges as a magnificent hero or a sickening villain. It's all very sweeping, and not the way we actually are as people. What rush was overpowering us at times like this? What were we getting out of it?"
"...I remember how exciting it felt when hitherto remote evil billionaires like Rupert Murdoch and Donald Trump created their own Twitter accounts. For the first time in history we sort of had direct access to ivory-tower oligarchs like them. We became keenly watchful for transgressions. After a while, it wasn't just transgressions we were keenly watchful for. It was misspeakings. Fury at the terribleness of other people had started to consume us a lot. And the rage that swirled around seemed increasingly in disproportion to whatever stupid thing some celebrity had said. It felt different to satire or journalism or criticism. It felt like punishment. In fact, it felt weird and empty when there wasn't anyone to be furious about."
More to come soon, but I'd definitely recommend the book if you're interested in the topic. Ronson has a very unique voice - I wasn't sure what I thought of it at first, but it has really grown on me.
