So You've Been Publicly Shamed in Discourse in a Digital Age

Jan 10, 2017 Sonnet rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, read-2015-2019

Where to begin? Very good book. I give it 4.5 stars because sometimes the transition to the next chapter seemed a little clunky. Still a VERY good read...that really makes you think. That's the most important type of book to read, really. The kind that makes you ponder life...yourself...how you act...right vs. wrong. Public shaming, as we all should hopefully know by now, is bad. Ronson, however, makes you question if it is ever deserved. The fights we get into online because we're fairly anonym Where to begin? Very good book. I give it 4.5 stars because sometimes the transition to the next chapter seemed a little clunky. Still a VERY good read...that really makes you think. That's the most important type of book to read, really. The kind that makes you ponder life...yourself...how you act...right vs. wrong. Public shaming, as we all should hopefully know by now, is bad. Ronson, however, makes you question if it is ever deserved. The fights we get into online because we're fairly anonymous can have devastating consequences. Shaming someone in open court, especially a victim, can lead to death. I think we are too quick to shame. Do people like Brock Turner (not mentioned in this book) deserve shame? Part of me says yes...and then part of me says no because I've never met him. Who am I to determine who or what someone is without meeting them? The other part of me is happy with the idea of him writhing in torturous pain, even if that pain is only emotional and mental. But what about others? People who haven't actually committed a crime or physically hurt another human being?

Many of the people mentioned in this book--especially those who were truly ruined in some way by public shaming on social media--were millennials. Some will argue they are not, but millennials were originally defined by the year they graduated, 2000. These are people my age, roughly, or even younger. Think about that. We think we understand the internet, but we don't. It has little to do with being born before it became as pervasive and accessible as it is today...and more to do with it being an ever-evolving entity. No one truly understands it or how it works in our daily lives if you think about it. Some of us are older, so we don't understand just how much it can impact our lives....others are too young to truly understand the consequences of posting something to it. I, for one, am grateful that Facebook was just starting as I was finishing up college and that Twitter didn't start until I was finishing up grad school. I am grateful that the world hasn't witnessed the stupid things I've said or done in jest...or in anger. That there is not this perpetual virtual monument to my stupidest moments. Does that mean I don't have them from time to time? No--I have them much more often than I'd like. But I'm old enough now to avoid anything truly troubling going viral. Anything that could be taken terribly out of context by people who have never met me and put into a giant spotlight. I've had people accuse me of being various things that were untrue, but luckily it was limited to a few "hammers" who were being irrational, judging someone they had never met. And that got me thinking...

I'm going to try my best to stop judging. That doesn't mean I won't hold leaders to a certain standard...it means I'm going to try not to react. I'm going to stop....and ponder. What was this person thinking? Are they really stupid or being funny? Could this be sarcasm? And I'm going to make the choice to not join the rest of the mob is destroying someone for a second of stupidity. I'm going to choose empathy...and, in some cases, to mind my business. I'm not saying it'll work. I'm human, and I'm Irish...but at least I can try. ...more

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Nov 20, 2016 Teresa rated it really liked it

I enjoyed this book. I am not on twitter and really don't understand the phenomenon of it. I have heard of the shaming aspect of it. In fact, I think it started with businesses. Shaming them to get them to act right. Doing what they should do for customer service. It makes me even gladder that I have little desire to be loved by people I do not know.
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