So You've Been Publicly Shamed
April 2, 2015 10:51 AM   Subscribe

"I recently spoke with Jon Ronson about his latest book, So You've Been Publicly Shamed. It's about people who've had their lives ruined from online shaming. In the book, Jon spent time with recipients of online shaming, including Jonah Lehrer, The Silence and Respect photo person, the people fired in the dongle joke incident, and Justine Sacco . . ."

"It's not to say anybody can say anything, because it's not true. I am a politically correct person who is completely against jokes about misogyny and homophobia and so on. Again, this isn't a book defending that kind of thing. This is a book very specifically about how our earnest desire to do good is taking a hell of a lot of scalps of people who don't deserve it and it's spiraled out of control. Nobody quite realizes that just yet, but I think people are beginning to realize it."

In response: "Were We Too Hard on Jonah Lehrer? A new book says yes. The facts say no", by Daniel Engber. (previously, previously, previously, previously)
posted by SpacemanStix (14 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Yeah, I love Jon Ronson but we did just have a thread on his book recently. -- LobsterMitten



 
I feel like online shaming is pretty terrible, but I also feel like Jonah Lehrer's case is different from any of these other people. Repeated plagiarism is not like a thing you do in a fit of pique or poor youthful judgement. Or is it? Also, nobody paid "The Silence and Respect photo person" for a book that turned out to be lifted from someone else.
posted by selfnoise at 10:59 AM on April 2, 2015 [2 favorites]


"This is a book very specifically about how our earnest desire to do good is taking a hell of a lot of scalps of people who don't deserve it and it's spiraled out of control. Nobody quite realizes that just yet, but I think people are beginning to realize it."

This is like a child trying to make the best of a bee sting by loudly proclaiming that from now on the rule is No More Playing With Hives.
posted by johnnydummkopf at 11:02 AM on April 2, 2015


Aside from shame, what recourse is there in dealing with disingenuous people who insist on putting themselves in the public spotlight?
posted by Dark Messiah at 11:04 AM on April 2, 2015


Just "The Dongle Joke Incident" is enough to lure m to this thread.
posted by Oyéah at 11:06 AM on April 2, 2015


There needs to be a time limit policy. You were an idiot, you got caught on camera, we all clutched our collective pearls in horror, you fumbled some dumb reply and then it's over.

But the internet doesn't work that way. Your 15 minutes lasts a looooooong time.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:07 AM on April 2, 2015 [3 favorites]


also previously
posted by twoporedomain at 11:07 AM on April 2, 2015


Aside from shame, what recourse is there in dealing with disingenuous people who insist on putting themselves in the public spotlight?

We're running into mission creep, though. What do we do with disingenuous people who we discover who are very much not in the public spotlight, until we drag them into it? And we seem to be deciding people deserve shame on less and more tenuous evidence than ever.
posted by penduluum at 11:09 AM on April 2, 2015 [8 favorites]




And a recent post on internet shaming, mostly about Justine Sacco, but also the dongle dudes.
posted by desjardins at 11:12 AM on April 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


What do we do with disingenuous people who we discover who are very much not in the public spotlight, until we drag them into it?

Different issue. My comment really only refers to the Leherer incident, as I've not looked into the others enough. I should have clarified.
posted by Dark Messiah at 11:12 AM on April 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


> also previously

And that's a pretty recent previously, too, less than a month. If you like anything in this thread maybe better save the thread offline or bookmark it or something 'cuz its life may be short.
posted by jfuller at 11:15 AM on April 2, 2015


This is like a child trying to make the best of a bee sting by loudly proclaiming that from now on the rule is No More Playing With Hives.

That sounds like a pretty solid rule to me...?
posted by LogicalDash at 11:16 AM on April 2, 2015


With stuff like Lehrer, there's a gulf of difference between saying "They ruined his life by publicly shaming him" and "He ruined his career by lying and stealing and getting caught."
posted by Sys Rq at 11:17 AM on April 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


The Lehrer issue is in large part about serious professional misconduct, not about being a little bit rude or insensitive. As a professional writer or journalist, avoiding plagiarism and citing your sources is entry level stuff.

One could argue that the "dongle guys" were, at worst, a little rude or insensitive - their biggest mistake was being in public around a person who had the will and the resources to make an issue out of it.

It's interesting to consider the cases of Adria Richards or Justine Sacco in contrast. In their situation, was it "just" being publicly impolitic, or is it a professional issue because their business is PR and relationship management? I don't know. But other things being equal, I wouldn't likely hire a PR person or relationships/BD person who was carrying such high profile baggage. But do they deserve an asymmetrical public shaming? I don't think so.
posted by theorique at 11:25 AM on April 2, 2015


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