So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed – Book Review

I’ve just finished reading So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson.

The book discusses the renaissance of public shaming, brought about by social media.  For instance, the woman who tweeted a badly-worded joke before stepping onto an 11-hour flight.  While she was in the air Twitter exploded with indignation and hate underlined with ‘glad it’s not me’.

Twitter is the recourse of the marginalised against those perceived to be misusing their privilege.  But it has become a form of social control.  People like to receive reinforcement of their world view, they feel good when a tweet agrees with views they’ve shared on Twitter.  So, when someone questions that view they are silenced with vitriolic fervour.  I have to admit to reading a Twitter storm and not jumping to the defence of the shamed purely because I didn’t want the backlash.

Ronson questions the concept of deindividuation (crowd theory) suggesting people act to do good, while noting the shock some expressed later of their own ferocity when joining the hunt.  I’m not sure I agree with Ronson’s views on deindividuation.  The example he gives of David Eshleman, a participant in the Stamford Prison Experiment, appears to be retrospective bravado (‘I planned it.  I mapped it out.  I carried it through.  It was all done for a purpose.’) and damage limitation.  Eshleman was the most brutal of the ‘prison guards’.

It’s clear the language used against shamed women is more violent than it is for men.  Ronson has tried to examine this but, in doing so, became subject to a mini-shaming of his own when an excerpt from a pre-publication proof of his book was brought into the public domain.

The book also touches on how to come out of a public shaming intact.  Is it due to some people’s ability to be shame-free?  Or perhaps, for some transgressions, society just doesn’t care anymore.

This book stands as a state of the world today.  It doesn’t (can’t) claim to be a turning point.  Those people who agree public shaming by social media is a problem will want read the book.  The many who engage in public shaming will (have already) voiced their opinions of the book on social media, without ever reading the book.