Shame On You

Cyber shaming / bullying is by far easier than ever to do. We now have access to numerous social media platforms, platforms that can reach millions of people at the click of a button. Jon Ronson discusses two separate incidents that occurred. First, he discussed what had happened to Jonah Lehrer which he himself was caught plagiarizing and faking quotes. While giving a speech at a foundation trying to restore his credentials he was publicly shamed in front of his audience through Twitter.  When you have the world at your fingertips and at the stroke of a few keys, you seem invincible, you’re on top of the world with nothing to hide and nothing to hold you back. People sit behind a computer screen or hold devices in their hands shame people that they do not even know. They make a judgment call on the persons words not knowing what they are trying to say. Instead they are quick to judge and shame a person hiding behind a screen waiting for other people to join in.  

In the second part of the video Jon Ronson talks about Justine Sacco a PR from New York. In a flight on her way to London she tweeted some crude jokes not knowing where they would lead. The first joke shaming a German.” “Weird German Dude: You’re in first class. Its 2014 get some deodorant.” Inner monologue as inhale B.O. Thank God for pharmaceuticals.” As she tweeted this she received no reaction from her 170 some twitter followers. Then later she tweeted another joke, this one cruder and not so funny. She tweeted “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!”  Why would someone think it would be funny to joke about contracting AIDS while visiting the originating country where AIDS came from. In the first place one would have to contract HIV before even getting AIDS. To me this sounds like Justine was not getting the attention she wanted so she resorted to shaming people that are less fortunate and would not have a chance to defend themselves. Well it back fired on her, soon after she tweeted her cruel jokes she fell asleep and woke up to a world of hurt.

Social media shaming has evolved not only from twitting but from live feeds. Twitter and Facebook for instance have live feeds, there have been numerous times where a live feed shows some person being bullied in school, at a park, or a subway station. All just to get a reaction from other people who have no empathy for the person that is being shamed or bullied. Murders have also occurred on live streams and people think its fun and rewarding to be a part of the investigation, where they can put their two cents and get away with it, and encouraged. People that are role models or hold high positions in society should really watch what they type. Not everyone is on the same page as they are, sure in today’s world everyone gets bothered of offended by even the littlest things. But c’mon joking about getting AID’s and not have to worry about getting infected because your white, that’s just asking for it.