Jon Ronson: When online shaming goes too far
Jon Ronson: Hvad sker der når online 'udskamning' ryger ud af kontrol
Jon Ronson is a writer and documentary filmmaker who dips into every flavor of madness, extremism and obsession. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
it was like a place of radical de-shaming.
fyldt med en slags radikal skamløshed.
shameful secrets about themselves,
hemmeligheder om sig selv,
"Oh my God, I'm exactly the same."
"Gud, sådan er jeg også!"
that they had a voice,
at de faktisk havde en stemme,
or homophobic column,
eller homofobisk klumme,
something about it.
kunne gøre ved det.
that we understood but they didn't --
som vi forstod, men de ikke gjorde --
their advertising.
annoncer fra avisen.
misused their privilege,
misbrugte deres privilegier,
democratization of justice.
demokratisering af domstolene.
pop science writer called Jonah Lehrer --
populærvidenskabelig forfatter, Jonah Lehrer --
and faking quotes,
og falsificere citater,
and regret, he told me.
og fortrydelse, som han fortalte mig.
at a foundation lunch.
ved et fonds-arrangement.
important speech of his life.
vigtigste tale i hele hans liv.
live-streaming his event,
until he turned up,
før han ankom var,
Twitter feed right next to his head.
feed lige ved siden af hans hoved.
in his eye line.
som han kunne se.
because they were monstrous.
fordi de var uhyrlige.
I think this was a unique moment
jeg tror dette var et unikt øjeblik
horrific reality.
rædselsvækkende virkelighed.
that were cascading into his eye line,
strømmede ind i hans synsfelt
into forgiving him."
kedelig nok til at vi tilgiver ham."
that he is capable of feeling shame."
at han er i stand til at føle skam."
by the best psychiatrist ever,
verdens bedste psykiater,
a tiny figure behind a lectern.
figur bag en talerstol.
a frigging sociopath."
en skide sociopat."
to do, to dehumanize the people we hurt.
ting at gøre, at dehumanisere dem vi gør ondt.
but not feel bad about it.
folk, uden at få dårlig samvittighed.
rigtig domstol,
begging for another chance,
tiggede for en chance til,
courtroom dramas, we tend to identify
film og serier om retssager,
den godhjertede forsvarsadvokat,
and we become like hanging judges.
den mest blodtørstige art dommere.
perceived to have misused his privilege,
én der havde misbrugt sine privilegier,
and we were still kicking,
ned, og vi blev ved med at sparke,
for punching up.
for at slå ham til plukfisk.
when there wasn't a powerful person
når der ikke var et magtfuldt menneske
that we could get.
som vi kunne få ram på.
began to feel like a day
begyndte at føles som en dag
og trådte vande.
ved navn Justine Sacco.
with 170 Twitter followers,
med 170 følgere på Twitter,
acerbic jokes to them,
sarkastiske jokes til dem,
from New York to London:
fra New York til London:
It's 2014. Get some deodorant."
Det er 2014. Køb noget deodorant."
Thank god for pharmaceuticals.]
Takker Gud for medicinalindustrien.]
and pressed send, and got no replies,
trykkede 'send', og fik ingen svar,
congratulate us for being funny.
os for at være morsomme.
doesn't talk back.
ikke svarer os.
and she had a little time to spare
og havde lidt tid tilovers
another funny little acerbic joke:
hun endnu en lille sarkastisk joke:
Just kidding. I'm white!]
Det var en joke - jeg er jo hvid!]
got on the plane, got no replies,
'send', steg på flyet, fik ingen svar,
was taxiing on the runway,
at køre på plads ved gaten,
a message from somebody
en besked fra nogen
to since high school,
med siden gymnasiet,
to see what's happening to you."
af at se hvad der er ved at ske dig."
from a best friend,
fra en af hendes bedste venner;
trending topic on Twitter."
hele verden på Twitter lige nu."
of her 170 followers had sent the Tweet
170 følgere havde sendt Tweetet
retweeted it to his 15,000 followers:
retweetede det til sine 15,000 følgere:
from IAC's PR boss]
fra IACs PR chef]
to the Gawker journalist.
jeg med Gawker journalisten.
and he said, "It felt delicious."
føltes, og han skrev "det var herligt."
"But I'm sure she's fine."
"Men jeg er sikker på hun har det fint."
because while she slept,
for mens hun sov,
and dismantled it piece by piece.
og skilt det ad, ét stykke ad gangen.
words ... bother you,
ord ... generer dig,
@CARE's work in Africa.]
@CARE's arbejde i Afrika.]
racist tweet, I'm donating to @care today]
tweet, donerer jeg til @care idag]
racist as fuck tweet from Justine Sacco.
forfærdelige, fucking racistiske tweet.
that night? A few of you.
Et par stykker.
your Twitter feed the way it did mine?
Twitter feeds ligesom den gjorde med min?
what everybody thought that night,
som alle andre den aften,
der er på røven!
helt forfærdeligt!"
that joke was intended to be racist.
på, om den joke egentlig var ment racistiskt
flaunting her privilege,
at prale af sine privilegier,
flaunting of privilege.
pral med privilegier.
or Randy Newman.
eller Randy Newman.
as good at it as Randy Newman.
ikke at være så god til det som Randy Newman.
a couple of weeks later in a bar,
et par uger senere på en bar,
puts us in a bit of a bubble
vi lidt i en slags bobbel, hvor
in the Third World.
i den Tredje Verden.
night, a New Statesman writer Helen Lewis,
aften, Helen Lewis som skriver for New Statesman,
and wrote that she Tweeted that night,
og skrev at hun den aften Tweetede,
was intended to be racist,"
ment som racistisk,"
a fury of Tweets saying,
over hende med Tweets
a privileged bitch, too."
bare endnu en priviligeret kælling"
as Justine's life got torn apart.
liv blev flået i småstumper.
this cunt @JustineSacco]
til at få hende fyret.
in the new year. #GettingFired]
det nye år. #BliverFyret]
to get her fired.
at få hende fyret.
of your career. #SorryNotSorry
tweet. #Fortjent]
hoping to sell their products
og forsøgte at sælge deres produkter
stupid before you take off,
noget dumt før du flyver,
on a @Gogo flight!]
på et @Gogo fly!]
good money that night.
tjente rigtig godt den aften.
Googled 40 times a month.
Googlet 40 gange om måneden.
and the end of December,
indtil slutningen af December,
that that meant that Google made
at det betød en fortjeneste for Google
and 468,000 dollars
og 468.000 dollars
those of us doing the actual shaming --
der stod for den egentlige udskamning...
shaming interns for Google.
udskamnings-praktikanter hos Google.
Justine Sacco gets aids? lol]
faktisk får aids? lol]
this bitch and then we'll find out
kællingen, så kan vi finde ud af
der gjorde noget ved.
about destroying Justine,
over at knuse Justine,
are so simple-minded,
er så ensporede,
destroying somebody
at skulle knuse en eller anden
destroying Justine.
a lot of disparate groups that night,
forskellige grupper den aften,
You demented bitch...
Tomhjernede kælling... Fortæl endelig
ubeskyttet sex i Afrika.]
to ride bare back while in Africa.]
"I'm going to get you fired."
and raped and cut out your uterus."
og hakker din livmoder ud."
arbejdsgiver involveret:
outrageous, offensive comment.
skændig, krænkende udtalelse.
på et internationalt fly.]
unreachable on an intl flight.]
turned to excitement:
se @JustineSacco's ansigt når flyet lander
@JustineSacco's face when her plane lands
inbox/voicemail. #fyret]
have det værste
her inbox/voicemail. #fired]
når hendes fly lander.]
is going to have the most painful
kællingen blive fyret.
when her plane lands.]
at hun bliver fyret.]
bitch get fired. In REAL time.
en skøn fortællings-struktur.
she's getting fired.]
a delightful narrative arc.
retfærdigt end det?
less judicial than this?
ude af stand til at give en forklaring,
and unable to explain herself,
var en kæmpe del af morskaben.
a huge part of the hilarity.
treårige der kravler mod en pistol.
like toddlers crawling towards a gun.
fly hun var på, så de linkede
which plane she was on, so they linked
On-time - arrives in 1 hour 34 minutes]
Til Tiden - ankommer om 1t 34min]
to see someone self-destruct
se nogen selvdestruere
#hasJustineLandedYet]
#erJustineLandetEndnu]
seng, men alle på baren
to go to bed, but everyone at the bar
Kan ikke se væk. Kan ikke tage afsted.]
Can't look away. Can't leave.]
bedste der er sket for min fredag aften.]
thing to happen to my Friday night.]
tage til lufthavnen og tweete hendes ankomst?
to the airport to tweet her arrival?
i Cape Town International.
at Cape Town international.
ud når man lige har opdaget
en misforstået venstreorienteret joke,
what it looks like to discover
because of a misconstrued liberal joke,
mennesker som dig og mig,
sunnies as a disguise.]
a mutual approval machine.
skulderklapnings-maskine.
who feel the same way we do,
med de samme holdninger som os,
så jager vi dem på flugt.
we screen them out.
er det modsatte af?
that's the opposite of?
os om folk der døde af AIDS i Afrika.
about people dying of AIDS in Africa.
medfølende var det, der ledte os til
is what led us to commit
The Boston Review,
in the Boston Review,
It's a cathartic alternative."
det er et velbehageligt alternativ."
mennesker som Justine Sacco --
meeting people like Justine Sacco --
som Justine Sacco.
of people like Justine Sacco.
but they're not fine.
men det har de altså ikke.
om selvmordstanker.
and suicidal thoughts.
der også havde fortalt en uheldig joke,
who also told a joke that landed badly,
voksne med indlæringsvanskeligheder,
with learning difficulties,
fordi de sociale medier krævede det.
because social media demanded it.
of the night, forgetting who she was.
at kunne huske hvem hun var.
som en der havde misbrugt sine privilegier.
to have misused her privilege.
at angribe folk for
to get people for than the things
at få børn udenfor ægteskabet.
like having children out of wedlock.
is becoming a free pass
er ved at blive en fribillet
anybody we choose to.
hvem vi vil.
vores evne til empati,
our capacity for empathy
og ligegyldige forseelser.
and unserious transgressions.
and so to make it work,
så før det kunne fungere
minedrifts-milliardæren Desmond Sacco.
the mining billionaire Desmond Sacco.
far er en sydafrikansk mine-milliardær.
her father is a SA mining billionaire.
Og det er hendes far heller ikke.]
And neither is her father.]
spurgte ind til hendes milliardær-far,
about her billionaire father,
i starten med Twitter,
the early days of Twitter,
hemmeligheder om sig selv
shameful secrets about themselves,
"Gud, sådan er jeg også."
"Oh my God, I'm exactly the same."
på andres skamfulde hemmeligheder.
for people's shameful secrets.
kan overskygge det hele,
can overwhelm it all,
om din skjulte indre ondskab.
of people in the world:
slags mennesker i verden:
humans over ideology,
mennesker over ideologi,
ideologi over mennesker.
ideology over humans.
med kunstigt højspændte dramaer,
for constant artificial high dramas
en skinnende helt
a magnificent hero
about our fellow humans.
sådan er vores medmennesker ikke.
we are clever and stupid;
er kloge og dumme;
was how it gave a voice
der ikke plejede at have en,
a surveillance society,
et overvågningssamfund,
er igen ikke at have nogen stemme.
is to go back to being voiceless.
Google her name today,
hendes navn i dag,
100 pages of Google results --
de første 100 siders søgeresultater --
taken on by a reputation management firm,
et firma til at ændre på det her,
innocuous stories about her love for cats
harmløse historier ud om hendes katte
managed to get the story
så fik de fjernet historien
results, but it didn't last long.
søgeresultater, men det holdt ikke længe.
creeping back up to the top result.
tilbage til toppen af resultaterne.
the very best thing we can do,
det allerbedste vi kan gøre
eller tvivlsomme udskamning,
or an ambiguous shaming,
værste der skete for Justine
the worst thing that happened to Justine
som om alle var imod hende,
like, everyone was against her,
at man bare skal forsvinde.
that you need to get out.
en masse blandede stemmer,
a babble of voices, like in a democracy,
så tror jeg det er mindre skadeligt.
I think that's much less damaging.
forsvarer en eller anden,
stand up for somebody,
læsning for alle, okay?
reading for everybody, okay?
fokus til dem der laver udskamningerne.
actually puts the spotlight on shamers.
fik gode reaktioner på Twitter.
have friendly reactions on Twitter.
der ikke var så begejstrede.
with some people.
to just concentrate --
og var rigtig venlige omkring bogen.
and were really nice about the book.
skrevet historier om magtmisbrug,
stories about abuses of power,
magtfulde mennesker i millitæret,
over there in the military,
everybody applauds me.
så er der lutter applaus.
people abusing our power now,"
der misbruger vores magt,"
"Du er sikkert også en racist."
"Well you must be a racist too."
igår -- hvor var vi ude og spise,
yesterday -- we were at dinner,
with people around the table --
med folkene omkring bordet --
konstruktiv diskussion.
constructive discussion.
du tændte din telefon,
you turned to your phone,
Vi havde en slags TED middag i aftes.
We had like a TED dinner last night.
og jeg besluttede mig for at tjekke Twitter.
and nice, and I decided to check Twitter.
"Du støtter hvidt overherredømme."
a white supremacist."
god snak med en eller anden,
a nice conversation with somebody,
eksistens gjorde verden til et værre sted.
made the world a worse place.
John Carpenter film fra 1980erne,
a John Carpenter movie from the 1980s,
alle at råbe og skrige af hinanden,
will start screaming at each other
and then eventually everybody
og så på et tidspunkt
as a really nice option.
at det kunne være en god idé.
JR: Og tak til dig, Bruno.
JR: Thank you, Bruno.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jon Ronson - Writer, filmmakerJon Ronson is a writer and documentary filmmaker who dips into every flavor of madness, extremism and obsession.
Why you should listen
For his latest book, So You've Been Publicly Shamed, Jon Ronson spent three years traveling the world and talking to people who'd been subjected to high-profile public shamings. Whatever their transgression, the response was to be faced by an angry mob, as Ronson calls them "collective outrage circles" devoted to tearing down said person from any position of power. It does not, Ronson suggests gently, reflect so well on society as a whole.
In a previous book, The Psychopath Test, Ronson explored the unnerving world of psychopaths -- a group that includes both incarcerated killers and, one of his subjects insists, plenty of CEOs. In his books, films and articles, Ronson explores madness and obsession of all kinds, from the US military's experiments in psychic warfare to the obscene and hate-filled yet Christian rap of the Insane Clown Posse. He wrote a column for the Guardian, hosted an essay program on Radio 4 in the United Kingdom, and contributes to This American Life.
Jon Ronson | Speaker | TED.com