In 1997, social media was invented to enable people to connect with others on a large, virtual platform. As social media grew overtime; however, it has become a platform to popularize trends, to share opinions on issues, and to publically humiliate its consumers. The evolution of social media shows that societal values have not become more accommodating to all people, instead all the ignorance that has existed in this country for centuries is just easier to express by the click of a button. As easy as it is to express negativity on social media, it is even easier to respond to it because media is frequently used by millions and has become an aspect of everyday life. It becomes worse when several individuals that share similar opinions converge and direct their comments to a specific person. The more people persist to correct the ignorance, they lose sight of the actual problem. Yet, the question still remains: why is so much effort put into destroying people rather than fixing the issue?

Throughout the chapter, “God That Was Awesome,” in Jon Ronson’s book, the reader is given a breakdown of how rapidly one’s life can be ruined by public shaming on social media platforms. In detail, Justice Sacco, a journalist attempted to gain attention by purposely posting an offensive tweet that reads as, “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” (Ronson, 68). Although her intent was to be humorous, many did not see it that way. Many found it t to be extremely racist and argued that it was an example of white privilege. The response she received eventually escalated—leading to her being fired from her job. Even after she was fired, she still carried the weight of someone who was ruined on the internet. In other words, her life was denounced down to a negative hashtag. Despite the fact that Justine was ruined, her incident is one of the many examples of the effects public shaming has on an individual.

Reading this chapter evokes the question of why many feel as though public shaming is beneficial. It seems as though having the ability to destroy a total stranger anonymously is powerful due to its broad audience.  Also, it produces this satisfactory feeling one is correcting a contributing factor of the wrongness in society. But will attempting to correct one person change the underlying attitudes and beliefs behind the issue? One side of this argument is that since people care about what others think, they’ll become more apprehensive of what they post. This does not exactly change the underlying attitude, but it alters how people with contradicting beliefs interact with one another. Conversely, one may argue, that public shaming forces someone to carry their guilt forever which gradually causes them to re-evaluate their beliefs, words, and actions. Living with permanent embarrassment ultimately changes the way people perceive certain situations and changes their attitude overall.

Works cited

Ronson, Jon. So you’ve been publicly shamed. Riverhead Books, 2016. 6 October 2017