By Andreas Kessaris for Curtains Up! (@AKessaris)
“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 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?”
-Jon Ronson (from So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed)
Public shaming is nothing new. But where it was once the domain of gossip columnists or 1930’s radio broadcasters in ridiculous hats, it is now being done by busybodies over the internet, emboldened by the anonymity of cyberspace. People who only a generation ago had nowhere to vent their spleen are now casting the first stone with horrific, knee-jerk reaction comments about individuals whom they have never met yet feel they have every right to judge. That is the subject of the new book So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by the author who brought us The Men Who Stare at Goats and The Psychopath Test, British gonzo journalist Jon Ronson.
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed covers a number of instances of recent public shaming, from a best-selling author who faked quotes, through some recent sex scandals, to several people who were inadvertently caught up in a social media flash flood after posting or making statements that were facetious, harmless, and never meant for the general public (or at least they thought as much). The book also includes details about what can be done to resolve and recover from such episodes.
This is only the second Ronson book I have read (the other being the aforementioned The Psychopath Test). Both books are quite thoroughly researched and highly readable. The author employs a direct and accessible, yet far from simple style that efficiently conveys information without getting breezy or losing our attention in redundant or irrelevant details. In So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed one chapter flows so smoothly into another that the breaks themselves are almost unnecessary; sort of like an extremely long newspaper or magazine article. I especially appreciate how the book does not have a pretentious forward, introduction, or verbose afterward; he lets the work alone speak for itself. And the temptation to make the book more marketable with a lengthy subtitle that explains the premise (much like the catchy theme song of a lame sit-com), was resisted, much to my gratitude.
Ronson asks all the right questions and uncovers some rather interesting answers. This is a rare book that I think everyone, especially those who are active in social media, should read. And take great heed.
