A slip of the keyboard
A new book on public shaming on social media is both timely and sharply observed, writes David Herkt.
Every time we go on a social media platform, we’re all at risk that a moment of honesty or inattention will go global. All of a sudden, as a consequence, we could be faced with the backlash of the twittering classes, which could be picked up by the mainstream media, and our lives and careers fall apart – forever. No Google searches using our name will ever come back clean.
This is a phenomenon of our time, built on technology. It began with Usenet newsgroups, then, with the wider take-up of personal computers, progressed to MySpace and Bebo, and now, in the smartphone era, includes Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Tumblr.
People have been harassed to suicide. Relationships have been wrecked. Jobs have been lost. We grow up in public with our pants down.
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed is Jon Ronson’s contribution to the debate. The author of The Men Who Stare at Goats, Ronson is adept at taking a topic and explaining it through a number of case studies. So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed is no exception. Ronson gives vivid examples and uncovers their meanings.
Jonah Lehrer, a best-selling pop-psychology author, was exposed inventing quotes by Bob Dylan for a motivational book and his career fell apart in front of a live audience.
While waiting to catch a flight, Justine Sacco tweeted a racist remark to her 170 followers about going to South Africa and getting Aids. By the time she’d arrived in Cape Town, she was the No 1 trend on Twitter and her name was googled 1.2 million times that month.
The speed with which a contemporary crowd can fall upon a perceived villain is breathtaking. Ronson describes the consequences in terms of lost jobs and reputation, continuing unemployment, and emotional fallout.
Social media is a world where it seems there are no consequences to the user, but Ronson shows the concealed perils. He also gives us glimpses of the self-satisfaction, unexamined presumptions and casual judgments of those who do the condemning.
On the other hand, Ronson discovers the ‘‘survivors’’.
Max Mosley, the Formula One racing executive, was exposed by Britain’s News of the World as being a participant in uniformed bondage and humiliation scenes with paid sex partners. Photographs of him getting his bottom shaved and caned were front-age news.
Mosley came through with his job, a substantial damages payment, and his reputation intact. Ronson speculates on what it was in his attitude that led to his survival.
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed also explores the services of contemporary ‘‘reputationcleaning’’ businesses and how they work. Google’s algorithms can be played back against themselves – at a cost. How much of a change can this really make? And how is it done?
Ronson writes well and informatively. His facts are gathered first-hand, his experiences conveyed with sharp observations of scene and character, and his conclusions logical.
As contemporary society becomes ever more connected, Ronson’s lessons will become even more important.