Markitanis1
Markitanis Sotiris
Professor Covey Adrienne
English 100S
30April 2017
Public Humiliation: It’s Back, And More Popular Than Ever
Public humiliation, also known as public shaming, is the disgracing and embarrassment of an individual orsmall group of people by a larger, more powerful group, whose opinion usually represents the most prevalent one in society at large. It is a practice that has been present in one form or another for the most part of human history, and was historically usedto publiclypunish those who went against the norms of society at the time. In the past, individuals who received such treatment often included anyone from criminals, to minorities who refused to conform to society’s standards.Nowadays though, with the rapid expansion of technology and social media services, those same roles have been replaced by well-respected individuals such as best-selling authors, as well as public relations executives.And it is all done in the name of justice and correctness, with the rare case of it being a psychological experiment (whatever those words might mean to the perpetrators of such horrendous actions), as in the case of Jon Ronson in So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed. It seems to me,that this need of modern people for what is essentially mob rule,has risen from the desire of the majority to instilltheir identities and views onto the rest, while driven by some form of pack mentality. The expected controversy around this issue, which according to my own observations is supported by a great number individuals in the United States, sometimes even regardless of race, socioeconomic class, or background, is that certain people should be shamed for doing or saying something that is not inherently right. Right, here, does not refer to the moral dilemma between right and wrong, despite to what many may claim, but to the need of some to impose their views and beliefs on others, simply because large numbers of people support them. Often, these are individuals who describe themselves as progressive, accepting, open-minded, and unprejudiced, but resort to uncivil behavior as soon as someone disagrees with them on a topic which they value greatly, and consider to be a key part of their identity.
In this essay, I plan to focuson the hypocrisy displayed by such so-called open-minded individuals and groups of people, who resort to mob ruleto publicly humiliate othersdissimilar to them.
More specifically, the research questions I am planning to answer are the following:
- Why do those who identify themselves as progressive thinkers,often publicly judge and criticize the opinions or actions of others simply because they are fundamentally different than their own, and how do those people use social media to accomplish that?
Individuals and groups of people,who often publicly humiliateothers because their views on certain mattersare different than their own,often resort to public shaming and humiliation to force their opinions just because they believe that they are ‘right’. With the recent expansion of social media, this practice has risen in popularity due to the wide range of people one can reach with the use of such services, as well as the advantage they offer of positioning oneself at a safe location behind a screen, without having to physically encounter the recipients of these horrifying actions. Furthermore, since our natural human tendency as human beings is to think and act in ways which closely resemble those of the majority, it seems that many individuals in the United States have chosen to publicly humiliate those with different views than the most prevalent ones in society, as a way to fit in and not risk becoming the victims of public shaming themselves.Unfortunately, this is a human behavior which can be extremely hard to discard, as it is one that has been deeply ingrained in our minds since the dawn of time when humans werejust starting to develop. However, educating people to refrain from judging the opinions of others, unless there is indeed something inherently wrong with those opinions like them disregarding a fact, would be the best way inlimiting cases of public humiliation.
This is a topic which I am very intrigued by, as I have noticed that it is a usual occurrencehere in the United States. In a time when this nationis undoubtedly more divided than united, partly due to the election of one of the most controversial and polarizing presidential political candidates in recent history, it is interesting to see how people use social media as their medium for insulting and humiliatingsomeone simply because they do not like him or her, and what they represent.What is also quite interesting, is the fact that people who can be described as both physically and mentally ‘weak’, often resort to such practices to get the courage and strength to do something which they would never dare to do in the physical world, thus choosing to hide behind a screenwhile blending within a large group.Having read works of various publicly accepted journalists and writers who very openly disregard any other opinions other their own despite their knowledge and prestige, inclines me to write about an issue which has essentially manipulated the term political-correctness into what most closely resembles a crying child attempting to quiet down those who disagree with it. Finally, what I intent to accomplish with this essay, is verify my claims as to what drives people to resort to such behaviors, as well as why this is something which has become a popular phenomenon.
The act of publicly shaming someoneon social media platforms for the whole world to see, no matter how harmless and innocent it may seem to an outsider, is one that can have a significant impact on one’s personal and professional life, and may even go as far as affecting that individual at a psychological level. The cases of individuals being humiliated because of postingonline something that many considered to be inappropriate, even if that inappropriatecontent was simply a bad twitter joke, (as in the case of Justine Sacco in So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed)are too numerous to not consider the effect of this topic on society. The scariest thing about this, is that it is something which can happen to anyone. In this 21st century digital era, it seems that all of us are one misinterpreted picture, sentence, or phrase away from being labeled as racist, sexist, or supremacist.Having said that, I hope that my research will shed some light on to how this global phenomenon came to exist, and why it has become such a common occurrence in recent years. Furthermore, with my thesis I intend to focus on the lack of moral judgement and any sense of sentimentality shared by those who participatein online public shamings, while unaware of the damage they are inflicting on their victims’ lives.
In addition to the sources included in the syllabus such as Kenji Yoshino’s The Pressure to Coveras well asJon Ronson’s So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, I am planning to use other sources which help me identify why people tend to resort to public shaming, how do those shamings usually take place in the online world, and the possible effects of public shamings on its victims. Furthermore, I’m also going to discuss some of the controversies surrounding public shamings, and even analyzespecific circumstances where online shamings were for the most part unsuccessful. To find the sources which will aid me in writing my essay, I searched in websites of news publications which are generally considered to be reputable and somewhat unbiased (Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, NPR, The Guardian, Observer etc.), as well as the scholarly database Academic Search Complete.
The following is my tentative list of sources and annotated bibliography:
BBC News. "Sex, honour, shame and blackmail in an online world." BBC. N.p., 26 Oct. 2016. Web. 30 Apr. 2017. <
Cathy Young. "The Totalitarian Doctrine of ‘Social Justice Warriors’." OBSERVER. N.p., 02 Feb. 2016. Web. 30 Apr. 2017. <
Christopher Mims. "We’re All Internet Trolls (Sometimes)." THE WASHINGTON POST. N.p., 05 Mar. 2017. Web. 30 Apr. 2017. <
Craker, Naomi and Evita March. "The Dark Side of Facebook®: The Dark Tetrad, Negative Social Potency, and Trolling Behaviours." Personality & Individual Differences, vol. 102, Nov. 2016, pp. 79-84. Academic Search Complete, doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.06.043.
Justin Jouvenal. "Science reveals what makes trolls so nasty." The Washington Post. N.p., 21 June 2015. Web. 30 Apr. 2017. < utm_term=.0fb5b791beac>.
In the article, Justin Jouvenal presents the findings of two studies by two different higher education institutions on trolls. The first study, conducted in 2014, attempted to identify some of the personality traits shared by people who engage in online trolling, and found out that individuals who find joy in trolling, are much more likely of having traits such as sadism, psychopathy, and narcissism, than most people. The second study, conducted in 2013, which involved identifying the effects of trolling on the opinions of people subject to it, found that trolling tends to polarize the opinions of those exposed to it. Thus, this article will help me understand and analyze the people who engaging on trolling, and the effect of trolling on others.
Lindsay Hoffman. "Public Shaming on the Internet." HUFFINGTON POST. N.p., 11 Mar. 2015. Web. 30 Apr. 2017. <
Monkey Cage. "Twitter trolls are actually hurting democracy." The Washington Post. N.p., 4 Nov. 2016. Web. 30 Apr. 2017. <
In this article by Yannis Theocharis, Pablo Barberá, Zoltán Fazekas and Sebastian Popa, the authors present a study published by them in the Journal of Communication, arguing how trolling hurts democracy. The study, anayzed the tweets of British, Greek, German, and Spanish candidates running for the European Parliament in 2014. From their findings, the researchers have come to the conclusion that trolling is bad for democracy, since politicians tend to avoid addressing the public in social media platforms as a way to avoid trolling, and because of the uncivil online behavior that often results due to the anonymity and safety that these platforms offer. Therefore, this article will help me consider the effect of trolling on society at large in my essay.
Temitayo Fagbenle. "Online 'Shaming' A New Level Of Cyberbullying For Girls." NPR. N.p., 07 Jan. 2013. Web. 30 Apr. 2017. <