3.86 AVERAGE


I would be really interested in a thoughtful work about the complex morality of social media justice. Unfortunately, this is not it. I was with him in the beginning, but he first started to lose me when he was much too sympathetic to Justine Sacco. He seems to think that since she didn't literally mean that white people don't get AIDS, people were deliberately misinterpreting her tweet, as if the casual racism of "going to Africa gives you AIDS lololol!" is somehow totally fine. He lost me for good later, when a black woman quotes the Margaret Atwood line, "Men are afraid women will laugh at them and women are afraid that men will kill them," and he responds with, "People might consider that an overblown thing to say." Oh, bless your heart, Jon Ronson. Later he establishes himself as a truly garbage person when he describes a man recounting a very upsetting story of childhood trauma in a workshop and, "He closed his eyes tightly as he told it, so I took the opportunity to quickly check Twitter." Charming.

I'm not sure what exactly I was hoping for, but this came across as the rantings of one of those middle aged men who complain about how our PC culture makes it hard to tell racist jokes. What a shame.

I enjoyed the topic, but I didn’t like the fact that this book is basically a collection of case studies.

Probably due to this choice, I found it lacked a bit of structure: the author would often refer to many different stories and people and I felt it was missing some cohesion.

Despite that, this is a very readable book and one that I would suggest as a first step to anyone starting with non-fiction. Jon Robson’s writing is clear and persuasive and I would love to read something else by him.

i agree with some of the 2-star reviews here, but...

This is really a 3.5 rating. I had trouble getting into it, but I find it's a book I think about a lot.

Omg I didn't give a review for this???? Insane.

This has been my only 2020 book that I haven't been able to put down. Ryan and I, being the annoying couple we are, rented both books from the 'book club' section of our library to read together. Ryan picked it, as I had never heard of it.

Within the first few chapters, we realized we'd seen Jon Ronson before in a TedTalk on sociopaths. I haven't read any other of his works.

My absolute favorite thing about this author's writing style is his ability to not deter you one way or another. He believes in a gray world, not a black and white world and that's stuck with me since I watched his TedTalk. While reading, I'm absolutely despising one person he's interviewing while praising the other guy. When the next chapter comes, he completely flips which facts he chooses to share and I'm at a total loss trying to decide if I love or hate the characters I previously felt the so passionately conflicted about.

Overall, this book is a lot about Twitter shaming. It's made me look at my online personality in a new light. In the midst of reading his book, I don't think I even felt comfortable typing a Goodreads review. It's just crazy how blown up things can get.

To say something racist or sexist or insensitive online - do you think it's worth people losing their jobs? The cancel culture does not allow for any level of forgiveness - is that what we want in our society? Public shaming was outlawed nearly 100 years for being too harsh on people - what about now? Well...I never thought about it like that.

I could keep typing, but honestly I'm fearful that if I keep going, I will in fact ruin this for you. I recommend this book very much, you never realize the power shame has.




Last comment, I don't have my book so I can't be accurate on terms:

Ronson met with a researcher who interviewed high risk criminals. When asking about their pasts, he noticed the common denominator - shame. Each person had be horrifically shamed as a child which numbed their emotions. Once made numb, they acted out in violence, self harm and murder/suicide to see if they could feel something.

Now, I'm not a violent person but I thought back to times when I was shamed in different ways. Nearly every time I felt shame, I lashed out verbally, raising my voice, distancing myself from that person, in order not to feel that way any longer. Being shamed was worse than being grounded, penalized, etc.

I am now very careful with shaming anyone. Shame = Violence
informative medium-paced
informative reflective fast-paced

this book didn’t really come to any profound conclusions but hear all these stories intertwined was really impactful. i’ve already felt myself assessing the constant tide of the next internet villain with a different view. i can already tell it’s a book i’ll continue thinking about and recommending to people. 

Timely

I always enjoy Jon Ronson. He's always laugh outloud funny as well as insightful. His super ordinary routine can get a bit too winsome at times and it also means that his observations can lack for depth but this is a very entertaining book on a crucial topic.
challenging dark funny informative medium-paced

3.5 stars.