Tag: public shaming
#EndorseThis: John Oliver Shows Public Shaming At Its Worst — And Best

#EndorseThis: John Oliver Shows Public Shaming At Its Worst — And Best

“Every nine seconds we find something new to be outraged about online,” says John Oliver, and he has proof.

But is that really a problem? Oliver argues that public shaming on social media, toxic as it can be, serves a beneficial purpose in certain cases. Consider Tucker Carlson, for example — a powerful racist broadcaster who sounded like a whining baby last week when held accountable for bigoted, misogynist, and just plain sick remarks he made on the radio several years ago.

Oliver takes the opportunity for a few extra-toasty Tucker burns, but he also looks at how an online pile-on can ruin the innocent — and how hard that damage is to redress.

You’ll learn and you’ll laugh. Just click!

Top Reads For News Junkies: ‘So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed’

Top Reads For News Junkies: ‘So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed’

It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad Internet. Hardly a week goes by, it seems, without some pol, celebrity, or garden-variety netizen making a public faux pas on social media that brings the full weight of global outrage down upon their heads. The web is transparent enough to make anyone a target and opaque enough to let anyone be a tormentor. Jon Ronson’s So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed is a sobering, sardonic guided tour of the worldwide court of public opinion, where ire spreads like wildfire, judgment is swift and brutal, and any one of us can go on trial from the moment we open our mouths.

You can purchase the book here.

This post has been updated.