Responses to Questions

Question #1. Are social media sites just opportunities for people to become, as Ronson says, “Unpaid shaming interns?” Share your thoughts.
In general, social media itself is such a complicated and interwoven medium for people. I think that this “unpaid shaming interns” idea comes from the fact that a lot of people doing it are doing this because they are behind their computer screens and there’s a sense of gang mentality as well. They may see their friends doing it and want the retweets and likes to feel satisfied with themselves, so they do it as well. At the same time social media has also given a voice for people to point out when corruption and horrible things are being said. A big question here I think is “are these shaming’s warranted?” I understand that not everything tweeted is meant as a literal statement but there are cases I feel when these public shamings are in fact warranted. If someone is posting blatant racist and horrible things, I’m sorry but they’re the ones putting it out there for everyone to see, they deserve to be called out for it.

Question #2. What are some of the benefits of social media in terms of providing opportunities for the democratization of justice?
I think some of the benefits of social media in terms of providing opportunities for the democratization of justice would be that it allows people to connect from all over the world. It also allows you to stay up to date with what is occurring, you can search sources easily to see different sides of stories as well as being able to donate to causes you agree with one click of a button.

Question #3. Are there ways of meeting “nice people like us” on social media? Or, is it a place that only offers opportunities for us to mutually approve of each other while demonizing someone else?
I mean, I think that it is both. I don’t think it can be seen as a medium that is either one way or the other. You have instances where both things happen. I think that on social media it is easier to get sucked into this shaming cycle because as I stated before, there’s a gang mentality behind it where you see a few of the people you follow doing this so you want to do it as well. I know that that is not all the time and you can’t generalize something like this because it is more complicated than just a yes or no answer.