How one tweet can ruin your life | Jon Ronson

Translator: Mathilde Johnsen Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

In the early days of Twitter, it was like a place of radical de-shaming.

I den første tid var Twitter et sted fyldt med en slags radikal skamløshed.

People would admit shameful secrets about themselves,

Folk indrømmede skamfulde hemmeligheder om sig selv,

and other people would say, "Oh my God, I'm exactly the same."

og andre ville sig, "Gud, sådan er jeg også!"

Voiceless people realized that they had a voice,

Folk uden en stemme opdagede at de faktisk havde en stemme,

and it was powerful and eloquent.

og at den var kraftfuld og velformuleret.

If a newspaper ran some racist or homophobic column,

Hvis en avis trykte en racistisk eller homofobisk klumme,

we realized we could do something about it.

opdagede vi, at vi faktisk kunne gøre ved det.

We could get them.

Vi kunne få ram på dem.

We could hit them with a weapon that we understood but they didn't --

Vi kunne ramme dem med et våben som vi forstod, men de ikke gjorde --

a social media shaming.

udskamning på de sociale medier.

Advertisers would withdraw their advertising.

Annoncører trak deres annoncer fra avisen.

When powerful people misused their privilege,

Når magtfulde mennesker misbrugte deres privilegier,

we were going to get them.

kunne vi få ram på dem.

This was like the democratization of justice.

Det var som en slags demokratisering af domstolene.

Hierarchies were being leveled out.

Hierakierne blev gjort fladere.

We were going to do things better.

Vi ville gøre tingene bedre.

Soon after that, a disgraced pop science writer called Jonah Lehrer --

Ikke så lang tid efter, fik en vanæret populærvidenskabelig forfatter, Jonah Lehrer --

he'd been caught plagiarizing and faking quotes,

han var blevet fanget i at plagiere og falsificere citater,

and he was drenched in shame and regret, he told me.

og han var opfyldt af skam og fortrydelse, som han fortalte mig.

And he had the opportunity

Han fik muligheden for

to publicly apologize at a foundation lunch.

at undskylde offentligt ved et fonds-arrangement.

This was going to be the most important speech of his life.

Det her ville være den vigtigste tale i hele hans liv.

Maybe it would win him some salvation.

Måske kunne den vinde ham tilgivelse.

He knew before he arrived

Han vidste før han ankom

that the foundation was going to be live-streaming his event,

at fonden ville live-streame arrangementet,

but what he didn't know until he turned up,

men hvad han ikke vidste før han ankom var,

was that they'd erected a giant screen Twitter feed right next to his head.

at de havde opstillet en kæmpe Twitter feed lige ved siden af hans hoved.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Another one in a monitor screen in his eye line.

Og endnu en på en skærm som han kunne se.

I don't think the foundation did this because they were monstrous.

Jeg tror ikke at fonden gjorde det fordi de var uhyrlige.

I think they were clueless: I think this was a unique moment

Jeg tror de var uvidende: jeg tror dette var et unikt øjeblik

when the beautiful naivety of Twitter

hvor Twitters smukke naivitet

was hitting the increasingly horrific reality.

kolliderede med den mere og mere rædselsvækkende virkelighed.

And here were some of the Tweets that were cascading into his eye line,

Og her er nogle af de Tweets der strømmede ind i hans synsfelt

as he was trying to apologize:

mens han forsøgte at undskylde:

"Jonah Lehrer, boring us into forgiving him."

"Jonah Lehrer, forsøger at være kedelig nok til at vi tilgiver ham."

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And, "Jonah Lehrer has not proven that he is capable of feeling shame."

Og, "Jonah Lehrer har ikke bevist at han er i stand til at føle skam."

That one must have been written by the best psychiatrist ever,

Dén der må være skrevet af verdens bedste psykiater,

to know that about such a tiny figure behind a lectern.

som kan se det, på så lille en figur bag en talerstol.

And, "Jonah Lehrer is just a frigging sociopath."

Og, "Jonah Lehrer er bare en skide sociopat."

That last word is a very human thing to do, to dehumanize the people we hurt.

Det der sidste ord er en meget menneskelig ting at gøre, at dehumanisere dem vi gør ondt.

It's because we want to destroy people but not feel bad about it.

Det er fordi vi har lyst til at ødelægge folk, uden at få dårlig samvittighed.

Imagine if this was an actual court,

Forestil jer hvis dette her var en rigtig domstol,

and the accused was in the dark, begging for another chance,

og den anklagede stod i mørket og tiggede for en chance til,

and the jury was yelling out,

mens juryen sad og råbte,

"Bored! Sociopath!"

"Kedeligt! Sociopat!"

(Laughter)

(Latter)

You know, when we watch courtroom dramas, we tend to identify

Det er sjovt, for når vi ser film og serier om retssager,

with the kindhearted defense attorney,

så plejer vi at identificere os med den godhjertede forsvarsadvokat,

but give us the power, and we become like hanging judges.

men giv os magten, og vi bliver til den mest blodtørstige art dommere.

Power shifts fast.

Magten flytter sig hurtigt.

We were getting Jonah because he was perceived to have misused his privilege,

Vi fik ram på Jonah fordi vi så ham som én der havde misbrugt sine privilegier,

but Jonah was on the floor then, and we were still kicking,

men på det her tidspunkt lå Jonah ned, og vi blev ved med at sparke,

and congratulating ourselves for punching up.

mens vi gratulerede os selv for at slå ham til plukfisk.

And it began to feel weird and empty when there wasn't a powerful person

Og det begyndte at føles mærkeligt tomt når der ikke var et magtfuldt menneske

who had misused their privilege that we could get.

som havde misbrugt deres privilegier, som vi kunne få ram på.

A day without a shaming began to feel like a day

En dag uden en god udskamning begyndte at føles som en dag

picking fingernails and treading water.

hvor vi bare trillede tommelfingre og trådte vande.

Let me tell you a story.

Jeg vil fortælle jer en historie.

It's about a woman called Justine Sacco.

Den handler om en kvinde ved navn Justine Sacco.

She was a PR woman from New York with 170 Twitter followers,

Hun var en PR medarbejder fra New York med 170 følgere på Twitter,

and she'd Tweet little acerbic jokes to them,

og hun Tweetede små sarkastiske jokes til dem,

like this one on a plane from New York to London:

som denne her fra et fly fra New York til London:

[Weird German Dude: You're in first class. It's 2014. Get some deodorant."

[Mærkelige tysker: Du er på første klasse. Det er 2014. Køb noget deodorant."

-Inner monologue as inhale BO. Thank god for pharmaceuticals.]

- Indre monolog mens jeg inhalerer stanken. Takker Gud for medicinalindustrien.]

So Justine chuckled to herself, and pressed send, and got no replies,

Så klukkede Justine lidt for sig selv, trykkede 'send', og fik ingen svar,

and felt that sad feeling that we all feel

og mærkede den tristhed vi alle mærker

when the Internet doesn't congratulate us for being funny.

når internettet ikke komplimenterer os for at være morsomme.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Black silence when the Internet doesn't talk back.

Mørk stilhed, når internettet ikke svarer os.

And then she got to Heathrow, and she had a little time to spare

Og da hun kom til Heathrow, og havde lidt tid tilovers

before her final leg, so she thought up another funny little acerbic joke:

før den sidste del af rejsen, udtænkte hun endnu en lille sarkastisk joke:

[Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!]

[På vej til Afrika. Håber ikke jeg får AIDS. Det var en joke - jeg er jo hvid!]

And she chuckled to herself, pressed send, got on the plane, got no replies,

Og hun klukkede for sig selv, trykkede 'send', steg på flyet, fik ingen svar,

turned off her phone, fell asleep,

slukkede sin telefon, faldt i søvn,

woke up 11 hours later,

vågnede 11 timer senere,

turned on her phone while the plane was taxiing on the runway,

tændte sin telefon mens flyet var ved at køre på plads ved gaten,

and straightaway there was a message from somebody

og med det samme var der en besked fra nogen

that she hadn't spoken to since high school,

som hun ikke havde talt med siden gymnasiet,

that said, "I am so sorry to see what's happening to you."

hvor der stod "Jeg er så ked af at se hvad der er ved at ske dig."

And then another message from a best friend,

Og derefter endnu en besked fra en af hendes bedste venner;

"You need to call me right now.

"Ring til mig med det samme.

You are the worldwide number one trending topic on Twitter."

Du er det mest trendene emne i hele verden på Twitter lige nu."

(Laughter)

(Latter)

What had happened is that one of her 170 followers had sent the Tweet

Hvad der var sket var, at en af hendes 170 følgere havde sendt Tweetet

to a Gawker journalist, and he retweeted it to his 15,000 followers:

til en Gawker journalist, og han retweetede det til sine 15,000 følgere:

[And now, a funny holiday joke from IAC's PR boss]

[Og nu, en sjov joke til juleferien fra IACs PR chef]

And then it was like a bolt of lightning.

Det var som et lynnedslag.

A few weeks later, I talked to the Gawker journalist.

Et par uger senere snakkede jeg med Gawker journalisten.

I emailed him and asked him how it felt, and he said, "It felt delicious."

Jeg emailede ham og spurgte hvordan det føltes, og han skrev "det var herligt."

And then he said, "But I'm sure she's fine."

Og så sagde han, "Men jeg er sikker på hun har det fint."

But she wasn't fine, because while she slept,

Men hun havde det ikke fint, for mens hun sov,

Twitter took control of her life and dismantled it piece by piece.

havde Twitter overtaget hendes liv og skilt det ad, ét stykke ad gangen.

First there were the philanthropists:

Først kom filantroperne:

[If @JustineSacco's unfortunate words ... bother you,

[Hvis @JustineSacco's uheldige ord ... generer dig,

join me in supporting @CARE's work in Africa.]

så gør som jeg og støt @CARE's arbejde i Afrika.]

[In light of ... disgusting, racist tweet, I'm donating to @care today]

[På grund af ... frastødende, racistiske tweet, donerer jeg til @care idag]

Then came the beyond horrified:

Så kom de stærkt oprørte:

[... no words for that horribly disgusting racist as fuck tweet from Justine Sacco.

[... har ingen ord for Justine Saccos forfærdelige, fucking racistiske tweet.

I am beyond horrified.]

Jeg er stærkt oprørt.]

Was anybody on Twitter that night? A few of you.

Var nogle af jer på Twitter den aften? Et par stykker.

Did Justine's joke overwhelm your Twitter feed the way it did mine?

Overvældede Justine's joke jeres Twitter feeds ligesom den gjorde med min?

It did mine, and I thought what everybody thought that night,

Det gjorde den med min, og jeg tænkte, som alle andre den aften,

which was, "Wow, somebody's screwed!

"Wow, der er godt nok en der er på røven!

Somebody's life is about to get terrible!"

En eller andens liv er ved at blive helt forfærdeligt!"

And I sat up in my bed,

Og jeg satte mig op i sengen,

and I put the pillow behind my head,

og puttede puden bag hovedet,

and then I thought, I'm not entirely sure that joke was intended to be racist.

og så tænkte jeg, jeg er ikke helt sikker på, om den joke egentlig var ment racistiskt

Maybe instead of gleefully flaunting her privilege,

Måske, istedet for triumferende at prale af sine privilegier,

she was mocking the gleeful flaunting of privilege.

hånede hun den triumferende pral med privilegier.

There's a comedy tradition of this,

Det er en tradition indenfor comedy,

like South Park or Colbert or Randy Newman.

som i South Park eller Colbert eller Randy Newman.

Maybe Justine Sacco's crime was not being as good at it as Randy Newman.

Måske var Justine Sacco's fejl simpelthen ikke at være så god til det som Randy Newman.

In fact, when I met Justine a couple of weeks later in a bar,

I virkeligheden, da jeg mødte Justine et par uger senere på en bar,

she was just crushed,

var hun helt ødelagt,

and I asked her to explain the joke,

og jeg bad hende om at forklare joken,

and she said, "Living in America puts us in a bit of a bubble

og hun sagde, "Når vi bor i USA er vi lidt i en slags bobbel, hvor

when it comes to what is going on in the Third World.

vi ikke helt ser hvad der sker i den Tredje Verden.

I was making of fun of that bubble."

Jeg prøvede at lave grin med den bobbel."

You know, another woman on Twitter that night, a New Statesman writer Helen Lewis,

En anden kvinde var også på Twitter den aften, Helen Lewis som skriver for New Statesman,

she reviewed my book on public shaming and wrote that she Tweeted that night,

hun anmeldte min bog om offentlig udskamning, og skrev at hun den aften Tweetede,

"I'm not sure that her joke was intended to be racist,"

"Jeg er ikke sikker på om hendes joke var ment som racistisk,"

and she said straightaway she got a fury of Tweets saying,

og sagde at det med det samme haglede ned over hende med Tweets

"Well, you're just a privileged bitch, too."

hvor der stod "Du er også bare endnu en priviligeret kælling"

And so to her shame, she wrote,

Og til sin skam, skrev hun,

she shut up and watched as Justine's life got torn apart.

tiede hun, og så stille til, mens Justine's liv blev flået i småstumper.

It started to get darker:

Det begyndte at blive mere ubehageligt:

[Everyone go report this cunt @JustineSacco]

[Man burde anmelde den luder @JustineSacco]

Then came the calls for her to be fired.

Så kom opfordringerne til at få hende fyret.

[Good luck with the job hunt in the new year. #GettingFired]

[Held og lykke med jobjagten i det nye år. #BliverFyret]

Thousands of people around the world

Tusinder af mennesker på hele kloden

decided it was their duty to get her fired.

besluttede at det var deres pligt at få hende fyret.

[@JustineSacco last tweet of your career. #SorryNotSorry

[@JustineSacco din karrieres sidste tweet. #Fortjent]

Corporations got involved, hoping to sell their products

Virksomheder involverede sig, og forsøgte at sælge deres produkter

on the back of Justine's annihilation:

på baggrund af Justine's udslettelse:

[Next time you plan to tweet something stupid before you take off,

[Næste gang du vil tweete noget dumt før du flyver,

make sure you are getting on a @Gogo flight!]

så vær sikker på du stiger på et @Gogo fly!]

(Laughter)

(Latter)

A lot of companies were making good money that night.

En masse virksomheder tjente rigtig godt den aften.

You know, Justine's name was normally Googled 40 times a month.

Altså, Justine's navn blev normalt Googlet 40 gange om måneden.

That month, between December the 20th and the end of December,

Den måned, mellem den 20. December indtil slutningen af December,

her name was Googled 1,220,000 times.

blev hendes navn Googlet 1.220.000 gange.

And one Internet economist told me that that meant that Google made

Og en internet-økonom fortalte mig, at det betød en fortjeneste for Google

somewhere between 120,000 dollars and 468,000 dollars

på et sted mellem 120.000 dollars og 468.000 dollars

from Justine's annihilation, whereas those of us doing the actual shaming --

på Justines udslettelse, hvorimod de af os der stod for den egentlige udskamning...

we got nothing.

vi fik ingenting.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

We were like unpaid shaming interns for Google.

Vi var som ubetalte udskamnings-praktikanter hos Google.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And then came the trolls:

Og så kom troldene:

[I'm actually kind of hoping Justine Sacco gets aids? lol]

[Jeg håber egentlig at Justine Sacco faktisk får aids? lol]

Somebody else on that wrote,

En anden skrev,

"Somebody HIV-positive should rape this bitch and then we'll find out

"En eller enden med HIV burde voldtage kællingen, så kan vi finde ud af

if her skin color protects her from AIDS."

om hendes hudfarve beskytter hende mod AIDS."

And that person got a free pass.

Og den person fik en fribillet.

Nobody went after that person.

Den person var der ikke nogen der gjorde noget ved.

We were all so excited about destroying Justine,

Vi var alle sammen så begejstrede over at knuse Justine,

and our shaming brains are so simple-minded,

og vores udskamnings-hjerner er så ensporede,

that we couldn't also handle destroying somebody

at vi ikke også kunne håndtere at skulle knuse en eller anden

who was inappropriately destroying Justine.

som angreb Justine på en upassende måde.

Justine was really uniting a lot of disparate groups that night,

Justine forenede virkelig en del forskellige grupper den aften,

from philanthropists to "rape the bitch."

fra filantroper til "voldtag kællingen."

[@JustineSacco I hope you get fired! You demented bitch...

[@JustineSacco jeg håber du bliver fyret! Tomhjernede kælling... Fortæl endelig

hele verden at du vil have ubeskyttet sex i Afrika.]

Just let the world know you're planning to ride bare back while in Africa.]

Women always have it worse than men.

Det er altid værre for kvinder end mænd.

When a man gets shamed, it's, "I'm going to get you fired."

Til mænd er det: "Vi får dig fyret."

When a woman gets shamed, it's,

Når kvinder bliver angrebet, så er det

"I'm going to get you fired and raped and cut out your uterus."

"Jeg får dig fyret og voldtaget og hakker din livmoder ud."

And then Justine's employers got involved:

Og så blev Justines arbejdsgiver involveret:

[IAC on @JustineSacco tweet: This is an outrageous, offensive comment.

[IAC om @JustineSacco tweet: Dette er en skændig, krænkende udtalelse.

Ansatte er i øjeblikket utilgængelig på et internationalt fly.]

Employee in question currently unreachable on an intl flight.]

Og da ændredes vreden til begejstring

And that's when the anger turned to excitement:

[Det eneste jeg ønsker mig til jul er at se @JustineSacco's ansigt når flyet lander

[All I want for Christmas is to see @JustineSacco's face when her plane lands

og hun checker sin inbox/voicemail. #fyret]

[Wow, @justinesacco kommer til at have det værste

and she checks her inbox/voicemail. #fired]

tænde-telefonen-øjeblik nogensinde når hendes fly lander.]

[Oh man, @justinesacco is going to have the most painful

[Snart kan vi se hende @JustineSacco kællingen blive fyret.

phone-turning-on moment ever when her plane lands.]

LIVE. Før hun selv VED at hun bliver fyret.]

[We are about to watch this @JustineSacco bitch get fired. In REAL time.

Det vi havde her, var en skøn fortællings-struktur.

Before she even KNOWS she's getting fired.]

Vi vidste noget som Justine ikke gjorde.

What we had was a delightful narrative arc.

Kan I forestille jer noget, mindre retfærdigt end det?

We knew something that Justine didn't.

Can you think of anything less judicial than this?

Justine sov ombord på et fly, ude af stand til at give en forklaring,

Justine was asleep on a plane and unable to explain herself,

and her inability was a huge part of the hilarity.

og hendes manglende mulighed var en kæmpe del af morskaben.

Den aften på Twitter var vi som treårige der kravler mod en pistol.

On Twitter that night, we were like toddlers crawling towards a gun.

En eller anden fandt ud af præcis hvilket fly hun var på, så de linkede

Somebody worked out exactly which plane she was on, so they linked

to a flight tracker website.

til en flight tracker hjemmeside.

[British Airways Flight 43 On-time - arrives in 1 hour 34 minutes]

[British Airways Fly 43 Til Tiden - ankommer om 1t 34min]

Et hashtag begyndte at trende verden rundt:

A hashtag began trending worldwide:

# hasJustineLandedYet?

#erJustineLandetEndnu?

[It is kinda wild to see someone self-destruct

[det er lidt vildt at se nogen selvdestruere

without them even being aware of it. #hasJustineLandedYet]

uden de overhovedet er klar over det. #erJustineLandetEndnu]

[Seriøst. Jeg vil egentlig bare hjem i seng, men alle på baren

[Seriously. I just want to go home to go to bed, but everyone at the bar

er SUPER vilde med #erJustineLandetEndnu. Kan ikke se væk. Kan ikke tage afsted.]

is SO into #HasJustineLandedYet. Can't look away. Can't leave.]

[#erJustineLandetEndnu er muligvis det bedste der er sket for min fredag aften.]

[#HasJustineLandedYet may be the best thing to happen to my Friday night.]

[Er der ikke nogen i Cape Town der kan tage til lufthavnen og tweete hendes ankomst?

Kom nu, twitter! Gerne billeder.]

[Is no one in Cape Town going to the airport to tweet her arrival?

Og ved I hvad? Det var der såmænd.

Come on, twitter! I'd like pictures]

[@JustineSacco ER nu landet i Cape Town International.

And guess what? Yes there was.

[@JustineSacco HAS in fact landed at Cape Town international.

Og hvis I gerne vil vide hvordan man ser ud når man lige har opdaget

And if you want to know what it looks like to discover

at man er blevet revet i småstykker pga en misforstået venstreorienteret joke,

that you've just been torn to shreds because of a misconstrued liberal joke,

ikke af trolde, men af venlige mennesker som dig og mig,

not by trolls, but by nice people like us,

this is what it looks like:

så ser det sådan her ud:

[... She's decided to wear sunnies as a disguise.]

[... Hun har forklædt sig med solbriller]

So why did we do it?

Så hvad fik os til at gøre sådan?

I think some people were genuinely upset,

Jeg tror nogle virkeligt var berørte,

but I think for other people,

men for mange andre, tror jeg,

it's because Twitter is basically a mutual approval machine.

er Twitter dybest set en gensidig skulderklapnings-maskine.

We surround ourselves with people who feel the same way we do,

Vi omgiver os med mennesker med de samme holdninger som os,

og vi bifalder hinandens meninger,

and we approve each other,

and that's a really good feeling.

og det er en rigtig dejlig følelse.

And if somebody gets in the way, we screen them out.

Og hvis nogen kommer i vejen for det, så jager vi dem på flugt.

And do you know what that's the opposite of?

Og ved I, hvad det er det er det modsatte af?

Det er det modsatte af demokrati.

It's the opposite of democracy.

Vi ville gerne vise, at vi bekymrede os om folk der døde af AIDS i Afrika.

We wanted to show that we cared about people dying of AIDS in Africa.

Our desire to be seen to be compassionate is what led us to commit

Vores ønske om at blive set som medfølende var det, der ledte os til

denne dybt ufølsomme handling.

this profoundly un-compassionate act.

As Meghan O'Gieblyn wrote in the Boston Review,

Som Meghan O'Gieblyn skrev i The Boston Review,

"This isn't social justice. It's a cathartic alternative."

"Dette er ikke social retfærdighed, det er et velbehageligt alternativ."

For the past three years,

De sidste tre år

I've been going around the world meeting people like Justine Sacco --

har jeg rejst verden rundt for at møde mennesker som Justine Sacco --

og tro mig, der er mange som Justine Sacco.

and believe me, there's a lot of people like Justine Sacco.

Der kommer flere hver dag.

There's more every day.

And we want to think they're fine, but they're not fine.

Og vi vil gerne tro på at de har det fint, men det har de altså ikke.

De mennesker jeg mødte var lemlæstede.

The people I met were mangled.

They talked to me about depression,

De fortalte mig om depression,

and anxiety and insomnia and suicidal thoughts.

om angst og søvnløshed, om selvmordstanker.

En kvinde jeg snakkede med, der også havde fortalt en uheldig joke,

One woman I talked to, who also told a joke that landed badly,

she stayed home for a year and a half.

Hun holdt sig hjemme i halvandet år.

Før det havde hun arbejdet med voksne med indlæringsvanskeligheder,

Before that, she worked with adults with learning difficulties,

and was apparently really good at her job.

og var vist rigtig god til sit arbejde.

Justine was fired, of course, because social media demanded it.

Justine blev fyret, selvfølgelig, fordi de sociale medier krævede det.

But it was worse than that.

Men det var værre end som så.

She was losing herself.

Hun var ved at miste sig selv.

She was waking up in the middle of the night, forgetting who she was.

Hun vågnede midt om natten, uden at kunne huske hvem hun var.

Hun blev fået ram på, fordi hun blev set som en der havde misbrugt sine privilegier.

She was got because she was perceived to have misused her privilege.

Og det er selvfølgelig en meget bedre ting at angribe folk for

And of course, that's a much better thing to get people for than the things

end det vi plejede, som for eksempel at få børn udenfor ægteskabet.

we used to get people for, like having children out of wedlock.

But the phrase "misuse of privilege" is becoming a free pass

Men konceptet "misbrug af privilegier" er ved at blive en fribillet

to tear apart pretty much anybody we choose to.

til at måtte sønderrive stort set hvem vi vil.

Udtrykket mister sin betydning,

It's becoming a devalued term,

and it's making us lose our capacity for empathy

og det får os til at miste vores evne til empati,

and for distinguishing between serious and unserious transgressions.

og evne til at skelne mellem vigtige og ligegyldige forseelser.

Justine had 170 Twitter followers, and so to make it work,

Justine havde 170 Twitter følgere, så før det kunne fungere

she had to be fictionalized.

måtte hun fiktionaliseres.

Word got around that she was the daughter the mining billionaire Desmond Sacco.

Rygtet spredte sig at hun var datter af minedrifts-milliardæren Desmond Sacco.

[Let us not be fooled by #JustineSacco her father is a SA mining billionaire.

[Lad jer ikke narre af #JustineSacco hendes far er en sydafrikansk mine-milliardær.

Hun er ikke ked af det. Og det er hendes far heller ikke.]

She's not sorry. And neither is her father.]

Jeg troede faktisk det var sandt,

I thought that was true about Justine,

indtil jeg mødte Justine på en bar, og spurgte ind til hendes milliardær-far,

until I met her at a bar, and I asked her about her billionaire father,

og hun sagde, "Min far sælger tæpper."

and she said, "My father sells carpets."

Og jeg tænker tilbage på tiden i starten med Twitter,

And I think back on the early days of Twitter,

when people would admit shameful secrets about themselves,

da folk indrømmede skamfulde hemmeligheder om sig selv

and other people would say, "Oh my God, I'm exactly the same."

og andre sagde, "Gud, sådan er jeg også."

I dag er jagten gået ind på andres skamfulde hemmeligheder.

These days, the hunt is on for people's shameful secrets.

You can lead a good, ethical life,

Du kan leve et godt, etisk liv,

but some bad phraseology in a Tweet can overwhelm it all,

men en dårlig formulering i et Tweet kan overskygge det hele,

become a clue to your secret inner evil.

og blive et fingerpeg om din skjulte indre ondskab.

Maybe there's two types of people in the world:

Måske er der to slags mennesker i verden:

those people who favor humans over ideology,

Dem der sætter mennesker over ideologi,

and those people who favor ideology over humans.

og dem, som sætter ideologi over mennesker.

I favor humans over ideology,

Jeg sætter mennesker over ideologi,

but right now, the ideologues are winning,

men lige nu er ideologerne ved at vinde,

and they're creating a stage for constant artificial high dramas

og de er ved at skabe en scene med kunstigt højspændte dramaer,

where everybody's either a magnificent hero

hvor alle enten er en skinnende helt

or a sickening villain,

eller en kvalmende forbryder,

even though we know that's not true about our fellow humans.

selvom vi jo godt ved, at sådan er vores medmennesker ikke.

What's true is that we are clever and stupid;

Sandheden er at vi er kloge og dumme;

sandheden er, at vi er gråzoner.

what's true is that we're grey areas.

The great thing about social media was how it gave a voice

Det fantastiske ved de sociale medier er,

at de gav en stemme til mennesker, der ikke plejede at have en,

to voiceless people,

but we're now creating a surveillance society,

men nu er vi ved at skabe et overvågningssamfund,

where the smartest way to survive is to go back to being voiceless.

hvor den bedste måde at overleve på, er igen ikke at have nogen stemme.

Let's not do that.

Lad os lade være med det.

Thank you.

Mange tak.

(Applause)

(Bifald)

Bruno Giussani: Thank you, Jon.

Bruno Giussani: Mange tak, Jon.

Jon Ronson: Thanks, Bruno.

Jon Ronson: Tak, Bruno.

BG: Bliv lige et øjeblik.

BG: Don't go away.

What strikes me about Justine's story

Det der slår mig ved Justine's historie

is also the fact that if you Google her name today,

er også, at hvis man googler hendes navn i dag,

this story covers the first 100 pages of Google results --

så dækker denne her historie de første 100 siders søgeresultater --

there is nothing else about her.

der er ikke andet om hende.

I din bog nævner du en anden historie,

In your book, you mention another story

of another victim who actually got taken on by a reputation management firm,

om et andet offer der faktisk hyrede et firma til at ændre på det her,

and by creating blogs and posting nice, innocuous stories about her love for cats

og ved at lave blogs og lægge hyggelige, harmløse historier ud om hendes katte

and holidays and stuff, managed to get the story

og ferier og den slags, så fik de fjernet historien

off the first couple pages of Google results, but it didn't last long.

fra de første par siders Google søgeresultater, men det holdt ikke længe.

A couple of weeks later, they started creeping back up to the top result.

Et par uger senere bevægede den sig tilbage til toppen af resultaterne.

Er det en umulig kamp?

Is this a totally lost battle?

Jon Ronson: You know, I think the very best thing we can do,

Jon Ronson: Altså, jeg tror det allerbedste vi kan gøre

når man ser denne her slags uretfærdige eller tvivlsomme udskamning,

if you see a kind of unfair or an ambiguous shaming,

is to speak up, because I think the worst thing that happened to Justine

det er at sige fra, for jeg tror at det værste der skete for Justine

var at ingen støttede hende -- som om alle var imod hende,

was that nobody supported her -- like, everyone was against her,

og det er dybt traumatiserende,

and that is profoundly traumatizing,

to be told by tens of thousands of people that you need to get out.

at få at vide af ti tusinder af mennesker, at man bare skal forsvinde.

But if a shaming happens and there's a babble of voices, like in a democracy,

Men hvis en udskamning sker, men med en masse blandede stemmer,

som i et demokrati hvor folk diskuterer, så tror jeg det er mindre skadeligt.

where people are discussing it, I think that's much less damaging.

Jeg tror, at det er vejen frem,

So I think that's the way forward,

but it's hard, because if you do stand up for somebody,

men det er svært, for hvis du forsvarer en eller anden,

kan det blive rigtig ubehageligt.

it's incredibly unpleasant.

BG: So let's talk about your experience,

BG: Lad os så snakke om din erfaring,

for du sagde jo fra, ved at skrive denne bog.

because you stood up by writing this book.

Forresten, så er den obligatorisk læsning for alle, okay?

By the way, it's mandatory reading for everybody, okay?

Du sagde fra, fordi bogen faktisk flytter fokus til dem der laver udskamningerne.

You stood up because the book actually puts the spotlight on shamers.

And I assume you didn't only have friendly reactions on Twitter.

Og jeg går ud fra du ikke kun fik gode reaktioner på Twitter.

JR: Nej, der var nogle der ikke var så begejstrede.

JR: It didn't go down that well with some people.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

I mean, you don't want to just concentrate --

Altså, man vil jo ikke kun fokusere --

masser af mennesker forstod, og var rigtig venlige omkring bogen.

because lots of people understood, and were really nice about the book.

But yeah, for 30 years I've been writing stories about abuses of power,

Men ja, de sidste 30 år har jeg skrevet historier om magtmisbrug,

and when I say the powerful people over there in the military,

og når jeg snakker om de magtfulde mennesker i millitæret,

or in the pharmaceutical industry, everybody applauds me.

eller i medicinal-industrien, så er der lutter applaus.

As soon as I say, "We are the powerful people abusing our power now,"

Men så snart jeg siger, "Nu er vi dem, der misbruger vores magt,"

I get people saying, "Well you must be a racist too."

så får jeg reaktioner såsom, "Du er sikkert også en racist."

BG: So the other night -- yesterday -- we were at dinner,

BG: Så altså forleden -- igår -- hvor var vi ude og spise,

and there were two discussions going on.

så var der to diskussioner igang samtidig.

On one side you were talking with people around the table --

På den ene side snakkede du med folkene omkring bordet --

and that was a nice, constructive discussion.

og det var en god, konstruktiv diskussion.

On the other, every time you turned to your phone,

På den anden side, hver gang du tændte din telefon,

kom denne her syndflod af fornærmelser.

there is this deluge of insults.

JR: Yeah. This happened last night. We had like a TED dinner last night.

JR: Ja-- sådan var det i aftes. Vi havde en slags TED middag i aftes.

Vi snakkede, og det var fint og dejligt, og jeg besluttede mig for at tjekke Twitter.

We were chatting and it was lovely and nice, and I decided to check Twitter.

Og nogen havde skrevet, "Du støtter hvidt overherredømme."

Somebody said, "You are a white supremacist."

And then I went back and had a nice conversation with somebody,

Og så gik jeg tilbage, og havde en god snak med en eller anden,

og så tjekkede jeg Twitter igen,

and then I went back to Twitter,

somebody said my very existence made the world a worse place.

og nogen havde skrevet at selve min eksistens gjorde verden til et værre sted.

Min ven Adam Curtis siger

My friend Adam Curtis says

that maybe the Internet is like a John Carpenter movie from the 1980s,

at måske er internettet som en John Carpenter film fra 1980erne,

when eventually everyone will start screaming at each other

hvor på et eller andet tidspunkt begynder alle at råbe og skrige af hinanden,

and shooting each other, and then eventually everybody

og skyde på hinanden, og så på et tidspunkt

would flee to somewhere safer,

flygter alle til et sikrere sted,

and I'm starting to think of that as a really nice option.

og jeg er begyndt at tænke at det kunne være en god idé.

BG: Jon, mange tak. JR: Og tak til dig, Bruno.

BG: Jon, thank you. JR: Thank you, Bruno.

(Applause)

(Bifald)