Writer Jon Ronson on how shame rules the Internet
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Jon Ronson's new book, "So You've Been Publicly Shamed," explores the "strange phenomenon of the participatory Internet," writes Choire Sicha in the New York Times.
From time to time, it seems as if every user of social media rises up as one to denounce, shame and remove an apparently deserving victim. The first few times Ronson witnessed this, he was intrigued -- even exhilarated. "When we deployed shame, we were utilizing an immensely powerful tool," he writes of his initial reaction: "The silenced were getting a voice. It was like the democratization of justice." Or was it? His view turned gradually darker.
MPR News Kerri Miller talked with Ronson about public shaming.
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