So You've Been Publicly Shamed

亞馬遜網路書店2015年4月選書。亦詼亦諧，指出網路世代濫用所謂的正義公理。公開羞辱的偉大復興正在席捲世界，彷彿正義得到了伸張，事實真如此嗎？沉默的大多數也許代表的才是共識與真理。So You've Been Publicly Shamed，深入探討網路的社會控制，參與者往往認為自己的暴行源自正義的憤怒，在虛擬的在Twitter、Reddit、FB或其他網路世界燃起怒火，貶低他人的話語或行為，幾近欺凌，卻都認為自己的行為是正當的。作者在書中提中大量例子，在這些例子中不難發現同樣的模式，一開始都是對公正的誤導，網軍不明就理，斷章取義，貶低別人，促使簡單的轉發或評論，以為正義得到伸張，問題是，整個故事並不是一張圖或一條微博能講清楚的，但是當事人生活卻被這個給毀了。書中一個例子，某男在一個會議上對軟體發展人員開了個「這是她說的」玩笑。坐她後面的另一女人覺得要伸張正義，揭曉事實，就在Twitter上傳男子照片，還有許多攻擊性的語言……一發不可收拾,這位有兩個孩子和妻子要養活的男人，被解雇了，眾人又展開對他的維護，最後壓力頂不住的老闆也開除了女子。作者Jon Ronson文字有趣幽默，內容豐富，不居高臨下指責任何一方，只是在書籍中傳遞一個訊息讓讀者自省：自己是不是也落入愛挑別人的錯，但是卻不能處理好自己的錯誤，即使心裡明知自己是錯的局面之中？From the Sunday Times top ten bestselling 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 a joke on social media that came out badly, or made a mistake at work. Once their transgression is revealed, collective outrage circles with the force of a hurricane and the next thing they know they're being torn apart by an angry mob, jeered at, demonized, sometimes even fired from their job.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.