An Oft Missed Point on Public Shaming

[osewalrus]

Excellent piece by John Oliver on Last Week Tonight.  Unspoken, but important, is the role of traditional media in all of this. Not only was traditional media doing this well before social media existed (as illustrated by his focus on and interview with Monica Lewinsky), but the consolidation of traditional media allows for no rebuttal. Lewinsky observed at the end of the interview that social media might have made things worse, but at the same time it would also have allowed some people to express support, which would have meant a great deal to her at the time.

It's a rather important point as news coverage continues to drive us toward a "social media is the root of all evil" narrative.