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  • So You've Been Publicly Shamed

  • By: Jon Ronson
  • Narrated by: Jon Ronson
  • Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (1,924 ratings)

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So You've Been Publicly Shamed

By: Jon Ronson
Narrated by: Jon Ronson
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Editorial reviews

So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed is the explosive new release from Sunday Times best-selling author of The Psychopath Test and well-known journalist Jon Ronson, who narrates this complete and unabridged audiobook. Ronson gives an enlightening exploration of public shaming on social media. These people are not always a star-studded cast of interviewees but often ordinary people thrown unwittingly into the spotlight. Ronson expertly explores the psychology behind the human fear of shame. This is captivating listening that goes to the very heart of what it means to be shamed. Available now from Audible.

Publisher's Summary

From the Sunday Times top ten best-selling author of The Psychopath Test, a captivating and brilliant exploration of one of our world's most underappreciated forces: shame.

"It's about the terror, isn't it?"

"The terror of what?" I said.

"The terror of being found out."

For the past three years, Jon Ronson has travelled the world, meeting recipients of high-profile public shamings. The shamed are people like us - people who, say, made jokes on social media that came out badly or made mistakes at work. Once their transgressions were revealed, collective outrage circled with the force of a hurricane, and the next thing they knew they were being torn apart by an angry mob, jeered, demonized, sometimes even fired from their jobs.

A great renaissance of public shaming is sweeping our land. Justice has been democratized. The silent majority are getting a voice. But what are we doing with our voice? We are mercilessly finding people's faults. We are defining the boundaries of normality by ruining the lives of those outside it. We are using shame as a form of social control.

Simultaneously powerful and hilarious in the way only Jon Ronson can be, So You've Been Publicly Shamed is a deeply honest book about modern life, full of eye-opening truths about the escalating war on human flaws - and the very scary part we all play in it.

Jon Ronson is an award-winning writer and documentary maker. He is the author of two best sellers, Them: Adventures with Extremists and The Men Who Stare at Goats, and two collections Out of the Ordinary: True Tales of Everyday Craziness and What I Do: More True Tales of Everyday Craziness. He lives in London.

This is an updated edition with new afterword, written and narrated by Jon Ronson.

©2015 Jon Ronson (P)2015 Audible Ltd

Critic Reviews

"A work of original, inspired journalism, it considers the complex dynamics between those who shame and those who are shamed, both of whom can become the focus of social media's grotesque, disproportionate judgments" ( Financial Times)

What listeners say about So You've Been Publicly Shamed

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  • Sam
  • 19-09-2015

Not for me, but a sound tale for the internet era

After reading an article in a newspaper about this book and how public shaming has made a comeback via social media, I decided that this would be a perfect audiobook. I quite like listening to non-fiction (when reading non-fiction, I often need a fiction read on the go for escapism purposes). I can’t say I loved this book though – to me, it was uneven, spending a long time on some topics and a too short a time on others. The book is narrated by Jon Ronson himself. While it was interesting to have him read his own work, at times his voice lacked the power to keep me listening intently.

I’m kind of worried about publishing this review in case I should be publicly shamed or ridiculed but that’s the chance we all take when we share things with virtual strangers, people we know from pre-school and your cousin’s friend’s sister’s ex-boyfriend. Suddenly the world has become a much smaller place and everything on social media is there to be judged by others. Ronson starts with his name being taken over by a Tweetbot who likes strange food combinations. He feels like someone has taken his identity and he goes to reason with the perpetrators who see no issue with it. Ronson then goes on to discuss things with those who have been publicly shamed online, such as Jonah Lehrer (who invented/changes some lines in his book that were attributed to Bob Dylan), Justine Sacco (the infamous ‘hope I don’t get AIDS’ tweet which went viral while she was on a plane) and Lindsey Stone (photo next to a sign at a war cemetery saying ‘silence and respect’ while she’s doing the opposite). He interviews the person who was shamed and also if possible those who did/were involved in the outing.

It’s an interesting philosophy to see what those who shared the picture/retweeted the tweet have to say as is the shamed person’s reason for doing what they did. Pre internet, these photos and messages would have only been shared with a few people. Now everyone is the judge. I must admit that I hadn’t heard of most of the shamed people Ronson interviewed (most of this must explode on social media while I’m asleep) and those that ‘broke’ while I was online, I didn’t really follow. I actually thought Jonah Lehrer was ‘Joan Alhera’ or ‘Joe Nalhera’ for most of the audiobook. Ronson discusses with them how their life changed and how/if it getting back to normal. Justine Sacco went to volunteer in Africa. Lindsey Stone was aided by some digital media people to push down her results on Google by adding new blog posts.

The ending of the book is quite open. It didn’t really summarise or ask how (or if) public shaming can be controlled in the modern world. I felt it was a bit weak, more like a series of vignettes of people who had been shamed rather than examining human behaviour in general. Sure, Ronson does include some psychology in this field (like why you keep driving under the speed limit after one of those ‘Your speed is…’ signs) but it would have been good to include a deeper analysis.

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46 people found this helpful

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Quite the experience

This is what it must feel like to live in a basement for the past 10 years, and then someone hands you a flashlight and you can REALLY see what's down here.

A very thought-provoking piece of work, and often nightmarish. It almost makes me want to delete my twitter account, for fear I'll become part of the monster and shame somebody.

Yeah, great listen. Totally recommend it.

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13 people found this helpful

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Ronson's surprisingly soothing voice

Despite the, necessarily, expletive-laden nature of this book, Ronson's voice is still an enormous pull for this incredibly important piece of journalism.

The ability to backtrack, to return from making very public mistakes is diminishing, and Ronson uses his usual considerable charm and journalistic skill to explore the whys and wherefores of internet shaming. Great reading.

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11 people found this helpful

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Entertaining and insightful

It's a great insight into how social media and people behaviours affect the life of others. Loved it

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Brilliant thesis

This was for me (a Luddite!) truly fascinating! What an enormous task For Jon to wind a thread from beginning to the final conclusion, all the way through maintaining an open based enquiry and pulling in supportive references from the individuals experience to cultural! I loved it but will need to listen again as I listen while multitasking- felt I needed to take notes! 2nd book of Jon's I've read n so to hear him read this was really

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Insightful, relevant and darkly funny

If you’re a fan of Ronson’s writing then you’ll love this. If you’ve ever witnessed, participated or been on the receiving end of social media embarrassment, this is particularly insightful. Just overall great observational reporting. Helps to ground you and remember the person the other side of a 240 character tweet.

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4 people found this helpful

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Unashamedly candid look at public shaming

Great listen. Couldn't stop listening and rolled through in a day. So much detail that I will be back to it again I'm sure. So much food for thought...

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Interesting

This one took me a while to listen of his books. I still liked the topics and overall message. I’m just not into shaming on social media and found it hard to listen because I was more horrified at the extent to which it goes on that I choose not to notice. Others might find it more enthralling , still glad I gave it a listen.

Thank you Jon for writing and putting yourself out there.

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Excellent

Essential reading for those even tangentially involved with social media. Riveting and well read by the author.

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  • DC
  • 08-09-2015

Brilliant and potentially tweet changing book

Have a listen and think about the new social democracy we live it. Is public shaming right? What are the consequences for the person shamed and for us as a society.

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