So You've Been Publicly Shamed

Jon Ronson has been touring the globe for the last three years, meeting people who have been publicly shamed in the public eye. People just like us—those who, for example, made a joke on social media that backfired or erred at work—are the ones who get stigmatized. When their wrongdoing is made public, the public's indignation surrounds them like a cyclone, and before they realize it, they're being attacked by a vengeful mob, ridiculed, vilified, and sometimes even dismissed from their position. Shame is being used by people as a social control mechanism.