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  • So You've Been Publicly Shamed

  • By: Jon Ronson
  • Narrated by: Jon Ronson
  • Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (5,616 ratings)
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So You've Been Publicly Shamed

By: Jon Ronson
Narrated by: Jon Ronson
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Editor 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.

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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Close your accounts people

I've never used social media from the very beginning so I am glad that someone has written about what I have been witnessing for a long time.

We cannot sit in judgement of others. It isn't right and as Jon has shown we often aren't seeing an entire picture.

Mia Farrow tweeting someone's home address? People are cornering and turning on each other for the reason of today's moral outrage. Just ask yourself every morning before you read the newspaper, watch TV news or going on social media. What is today's moral outrage? Doing that can help but even better is to switch it all off.

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I liked it

it's definitely changed some of my opinions. I am a better person by reading it.

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Fascinating

Thought provoking and considered - Jon is the expert of reason and with Jon’s my mind changed with every chapter until meeting a conclusion

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I just love Jon Ronson

I love all his work, but particularly this one.
What have we become as a race

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Well written and relevant

I like Jon Ronson in general but this seems both important and timely. Maybe we aren't evolved enough for social media.

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Spikey and enlightening

Lance Armstrong must be grateful he's not in this book. I wasn't familiar with all the 'shamed' but I get the general picture that social media can really mess you up if you poke it with a stick of any size. Very well read by the author.

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Jon Ronson does a Jon Ronson thing: good

Where does So You've Been Publicly Shamed rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It ranks in the top half of audio books to which I've listened. JR is always entertaining and thought-provoking, in a fairly light-hearted way.

What other book might you compare So You've Been Publicly Shamed to, and why?

Other Jon Ronsons,e.g. Psychopath Test.

Have you listened to any of Jon Ronson’s other performances? How does this one compare?

No, I have not. I usually read his books.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

A little. The impact on the unfortunates is sad. And Jon can make me laugh.

Any additional comments?

"Since I learned about confirmation bias I have been seeing it everywhere. Everywhere" - best line in the book.

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A really important book for anyone online.

Finished it in 2 days. Very well written and narrated. The subject of the book and the accounts of the online shamings were extremely gripping, even for someone who's not that in to Twitter.

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Brilliant

Brilliant audiobook. Couldn't turn it off! A must listen for anyone.

Filling the end of this review with words to meet the enforced but ridiculous minimum word count.

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Another good ronson book

If you like his others this is also good. I enjoyed it and listened almost in one sitting.

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