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Jon Ronson

Adam Curtis interviews Jon Ronson:
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By all rights their conversation should have ended in a table-toppling brawl, in keeping with the subject, but they manage to be very civil. It certainly sounds like there's good stuff coming up on Jon's podcast, like how poet Roger McGough started a gun battle on a US school bus.
 
Another great episode, the school textbooks one. Makes the important point that no matter where you lie in the culture wars, impact has become far more important that intention. And that's a problem.
 
Another great episode, the school textbooks one. Makes the important point that no matter where you lie in the culture wars, impact has become far more important that intention. And that's a problem.

That line struck me, as I hadn't thought about it that way but it's really true, and social media has exascerbated this. Also the seemingly unending determination of some people (of all persuasions to be honest) to impose their beliefs on others and demand that society bend to their own view of morality. Really does my head in!
 
That line struck me, as I hadn't thought about it that way but it's really true, and social media has exascerbated this. Also the seemingly unending determination of some people (of all persuasions to be honest) to impose their beliefs on others and demand that society bend to their own view of morality. Really does my head in!
I hesitate to leap into this minefield, but it seems in almost every case where some politician or public figure behaves in a performative manner their social media history reveals behaviour far worse than the actions that they are criticising. And I won't dwell on the HBO Harry Potter special that doesn't include its creator.
 
Aw, this week's was actually really heartwarming. I vaguely knew of Tammy Faye Bakker, mostly because her husband ruined her life when he mismanaged their televangelist business, but she went on to do some genuine good. This gives me hope there will come a time when we look back on the culture wars and wonder what the fuss was all about.
 
Ah, I've been waiting for this week's: Satanic panic! There's so much to choose from there, but the interesting point was a lot of the Satanic paranoia - which was baseless - was fuelled by middle class liberals feeling guilty about not doing enough for their kids and sending them to daycare instead.

The woman Jon interviews lost years of her life because of hundreds of lies prompted by counsellors coaching little kids to invent wilder and wilder stories. And after it was certain she was innocent, she never received one apology from her accusers. This one is essential listening for Forteans.
 
I know! Was she arrested by the clown police or something? The accusations were beyond ridiculous. Just shows you how these things can snowball.

“…police officers have become too eager to immediately believe alleged victims, which is part of a national policy intended to give people confidence that their allegations will be taken seriously.

Police guidance states that complainants should be believed from the outset "unless there is credible evidence at the point the allegation is made that determines no crime has been committed".

But the guidance has been under review for more than a year since a report into the Met Police's flawed VIP sex abuse inquiry found the automatic-belief policy had warped the judgment of officers…”

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/police-ch...always-believe-victim-sex-abuse-cases-1652490

maximus otter
 
“…police officers have become too eager to immediately believe alleged victims, which is part of a national policy intended to give people confidence that their allegations will be taken seriously.

Police guidance states that complainants should be believed from the outset "unless there is credible evidence at the point the allegation is made that determines no crime has been committed".

But the guidance has been under review for more than a year since a report into the Met Police's flawed VIP sex abuse inquiry found the automatic-belief policy had warped the judgment of officers…”

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/police-ch...always-believe-victim-sex-abuse-cases-1652490

maximus otter

I guess it's difficult when you're caught up in a moral panic to say, "Hang on, this doesn't make sense, the evidence doesn't add up", because my goodness you can suffer for that, and thank goodness someone saw that sense in the Met's VIP abuse inquiry, but this woman was convicted and served a few years before she was released. It was only by chance that she was exonerated. I know this was in America, but the same should apply there as here.
 
The first ever public shaming on the internet was this week's topic. Now it's a global sport, all that giddy power of ruining someone's life, it's interesting to go back to the 1980s and see where it all stemmed from.

One interviewee said it was because the internet, and social media in particular, had been designed to be libertarian, which gives users free rein to be obnoxious to people for the most trivial of reasons because rules are for squares. Where it gets worrying is when the reasons aren't trivial at all, and neither are the consequences.
 
The origins of trans women vs TERFs this week - don't worry, I won't go into it. Though the image of thousands of topless feminists camping is quite something.
 
Mentally ill man can't tell the difference between lies and reality, and becomes a QAnon martyr in the process, that was about the gist of this week's. Bloody YouTube.

Last one next week, already! It's been an excellent series, but I feel Jon's barely scratched the surface, so prevalent are these altercations.
 
All about school textbooks and perceived and actual white privilege for the last one. But as Jon says, he was making this series to stand apart, as an observer, not to get involved. However, the act of looking at culture wars makes you a participant, because while it's been broadcast his book So You've Been Publicly shamed was dragged in as up for debate by schools and parents who wanted to ban it.

It's ridiculous, it's one of the most reasonable books I've ever read, but because he mentions bestiality and a porn shoot in passing, apparently it's the work of the Devil.

He's right when he says this stuff is exhausting and what people would like now is a connection, not friction. Not happening any time soon, though.
 
Tomorrow night on Radio 4 is the final episode of Things Fall Apart, a discussion on the series for three-quarters of an hour between Jon Ronson and Louis Theroux. Starts at 8pm, and on BBC Sounds afterwards.
 
Interesting chat tonight, something that stood out is how a moral justification to your beliefs is more likely to make you violent, and my goodness we've seen that recently. The thin line between conspiracies and madness was also well-noted. Worth a listen (more about Jon than Louis, though).
 
Interesting chat tonight, something that stood out is how a moral justification to your beliefs is more likely to make you violent, and my goodness we've seen that recently. The thin line between conspiracies and madness was also well-noted. Worth a listen (more about Jon than Louis, though).
There's an episode of Louis' podcast where he interviews Jon too, not touching on this series - it's definitely worth a listen. Link.
 
Look away if you've heard this before -

Things Fall Apart is from WB Yeats' 1919 work The Second Coming, possibly the most-quoted poem in the English language.

Here's a nice Guardian article on it:

'Things fall apart': the apocalyptic appeal of WB Yeats's The Second Coming

Written 100 years ago, Yeats’s poem has been absorbed into the cultural bloodstream from Chinua Achebe to The Sopranos, Joan Didion to Gordon Gecko. Why is it such a touchstone in times of chaos?

I love spotting The Second Coming in popular culture. The Sopranos is mentioned in the Guardian piece as if the poem is a minor detail when, to me at least, it's a major subtext.
 
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