Emi ·
I was taking a walk around Valencia when I found Jon Ronson’s book “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed” in one of those cute street public libraries. I usually check those out to see if something catches my eye and this was the first time I actually found something I wanted to read for a long time.
I remember the book being a big deal when it came out in 2015, but I didn’t know much about it. Me being a bit terminally online makes me scared of missing out on what’s happening. When I’m not online for a long period of time (basically more than a day… I know, it is that sad), I get the feeling that when I come back I won’t know what’s going on. That’s of course never true, when I come back, everything is as terrible as I left it. But I’m giving you this context because when I started reading this book, I was immediately taken aback because the book opens with stories about Twitter. Surely, 10 years is enough to make a book about Twitter feel dated. The internet moves too fast, and things are VERY different now, right? New owner, new name, more nazis. You know, the new Twitter.
To my surprise, the book is still extremely relevant today. I would even say that it is more relevant now than ever.
The book is a collection of stories, written like a “podcast” in text form. It goes over concrete examples of people being publicly shamed online and how they dealt with the aftermath, which is something we never get to see. I’m sure that most of us have participated in a public shaming session on Twitter, but we are usually on the accuser side, not so often as the target.
For the writing side, I was pleasantly surprised to see how the “podcast” format of storytelling works so well in written form. I wonder if this book is responsible for many podcasts being structured this way, or if it is the other way around.
I don’t want to give too much of the book away, and I can’t write half as good as the author, so if you haven’t heard of the book or haven’t gotten to it yet, I really recommend it. While it doesn’t have any clear-cut conclusion, visiting each one of the stories makes you think about them deeply.
Even if you don’t participate in the ring of hell that Twitter is, I think that in an increasingly online-only world, you’ll find value in it. So I would love to pass it on to you as it came to my hands, but a digital recommendation will have to suffice this time 🫴📕
Comments
Testing comments! Hello world ✨
First! 😏 I had never heard of that book, but it does sound pretty relevant as someone who's also (too much) on Twitter and at risk of being on both sides of the equation 😅
🙂🙂🙂
That book actually sounds like a must-read for anyone in a public position, where online hate is inevitable nowadays. Hadn't heard of it before, so thanks for the rec!
Hey, is this company chat now? I usually only read for entertainment, anything serious I consume through my ears. So maybe there is an audiobook version of this book. I just remember there was a section called "web redemption" in the Tosh.O show which gave people who were shamed on the internet a chance to redeem their pride. You can find some of the clips on YT. And there is a new podcast which amounts to about the same, but revolves more around the phenomenon behind a viral thing. It's called "Sixteenth Minute (of Fame)" and I first thought I really don't need that in my life. But now I do. It's by Cool Zone Media and I listen to almost all podcasts they produce. They're terminally online people as well, so maybe you'll find something for yourself, too. I got off Twitter over a year ago and still healing. Mastodon is my methadone - wait, the similar sounding name can't be a coincidence. Gotte have to sleep over it. Anyway thanks. Hope this doesn't get to stressful, it's already over four comments!
Hi there, one more comment to moderate manually :P "everything is as terrible as I left it." Or as nice as I left it? Algorithms wont expose people to it by default but there are a lot of great people and content out there everyday and it's slow and tedious but we can craft our feeds to make sure we are exposed to that content, and share that kind of content ourselves :) like this blog post! And hopefully this comment 😬
Houston to Emi: The comments have landed. I repeat: The comments have landed! The book sounds very intriguing.
Are You reviewing my comment 😉 Don't worry It don't contain abuse or any spam or something
Thanks for the recommendation - I had never heard of it! When reading your blog post, it came to mind, that it is probably even more important for people who have not yet been shamed to read it! I recently got pulled into a public shaming and it's been one of my most regretful moments in my life. I don't want to do this again, as I start realising how it feels for the "recipient". So I am going to get this book. Cheers!
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