The Outrage Machine; New York Times, June 2016

[Video] New York Times; The Outrage Machine

Mob Shaming: The Pillory at the Center of the Global Village; New York Times, 6/19/16

Clyde Haberman, New York Times; Mob Shaming: The Pillory at the Center of the Global Village:

"Once upon a time, miscreants subjected to public ridicule were pilloried for perhaps a few hours. In internet life, that can last forever. “You never escape it,” Danielle Keats Citron said. She is a law professor at the University of Maryland and author of “Hate Crimes in Cyberspace” (2014).

“When you post something really damaging, reputationally damaging, about someone online, it’s searchable and seeable,” she told Retro Report. “And you can’t erase it.”

Does shame have a legitimate place in our lives? Mark Twain seemed to think so. “Man is the only animal that blushes,” Twain wrote in 1897.

“Or needs to,” he added.

Jennifer Jacquet, an assistant professor of environmental studies at New York University, shares the sentiment. In her book “Is Shame Necessary?” (2015), the professor argues that shaming can be a strategy for beneficial change, notably if the targets are corporate polluters and others whose deeds harm the commonweal.

She is not opposed to chastising individuals publicly, as long as the tactics are not abusive, but her preference is to call out governments and large organizations that behave badly. “Shaming is better used for the collective well-being,” she said in an interview."

When a Public Family Is Publicly Attacked; New York Times, 2/5/16

KJ Dell'Antonia, New York Times; When a Public Family Is Publicly Attacked:

"While Ms. Howerton and her supporters report Twitter accounts for abuse, she is also asking YouTube to take down the video commentary that makes use of her video and other family images. She has filed a privacy complaint, which YouTube rejected, and is waiting for it to respond to her new complaint, alleging copyright violation. Neil Richards, a law professor at Washington University and author of “Intellectual Privacy: Rethinking Civil Liberties in the Digital Age,” said he thinks Ms. Howerton’s belief that she can regain control of the footage may be overly optimistic.

“The use of home video and family images for political debate is something that has real consequences,” he said. “She has made her life choices, her experiences, her children’ experiences, a matter for public debate. When people do this they do expose themselves to criticism and attacks and some of them are quite unpleasant.”

Eric Goldman, a professor of law and director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law, agreed that because Ms. Howerton herself used family video as part of a political discussion, she may have little legal recourse when that video is used as part of a larger video engaged in social commentary on the same topic. In many situations, videos or pictures posted online can become “fair game” for critics to use in online attacks against the poster’s position or for other undesirable political or social statements, Mr. Goldman said in an email."

Doctor attacked on social media; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 8/4/15

Maria Sciullo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Doctor attacked on social media:

"The public focus is on Dr. Seski, though. A “Shame Dr. Jan Seski” page was created and had more than 1,500 members by Monday afternoon. The addresses of his home and office were posted, as well as their telephone numbers.

A protest at Dr. Seski’s office in Oakland has been organized for Wednesday evening.

After someone called Margie Anne posted “let us take the moral and legal high ground... and refrain from any and all discussion of taking violent action,” others quickly jumped in to compare him to Jerry Sandusky and Bill Cosby. “Name and Shame, always,” wrote Kate Sullivan.

Altough #lionslivesmatter became an international trending topic, some have been offended by its similarity to #blacklivesmatter.

“Naturally, we empathize with the death of this lion and don’t find it to be a humane act,” said Senque Little-Poole, a recent graduate of Pittsburgh Science & Technology Academy and member of Teen_Bloc, which advocates for education equity and is affiliated with A+ Schools. “But our position is more around the fact that black lives matter more... it’s not comparable to #lionslivesmatter.”"

Killer of Cecil the Lion Finds Out That He Is a Target Now, of Internet Vigilantism; New York Times, 7/29/15

Christina Capecchi and Katie Rogers, New York Times; Killer of Cecil the Lion Finds Out That He Is a Target Now, of Internet Vigilantism:

"In the hours since Dr. Walter J. Palmer apologized for killing the lion, he has gone from a dentist and longtime hunting enthusiast to a villain at the center of a firestorm over the ethics of big-game trophy hunting...

Erin Flior, who specializes in crisis management at the public relations firm Levick, said that frequent cases of widespread social media outrage had made digital crisis and reputation management a growing specialty. She recalled cases in which clients had to move or consider changing their names.

“The fact that it crosses my desk at all means it happens too much, in my opinion,” Ms. Flior said. “It really tends to be instances where a very educated, tech-savvy crowd has jumped on board that those kind of instances get taken to that level where personal information is being released.”"