In the early days of Twitter, it was like a place of radical de-shaming. People would admit shameful secrets about themselves, and other people would say, "Oh my God, I'm exactly the same." Voiceless people realized that they had a voice, and it was powerful and eloquent. If a newspaper ran some racist or homophobic column, we realized we could do something about it. We could get them. We could hit them with a weapon that we understood but they didn't -- a social media shaming. Advertisers would withdraw their advertising. When powerful people misused their privilege, we were going to get them. This was like the democratization of justice. Hierarchies were being leveled out. We were going to do things better.
Ne ditet e hershme Twitter ishte nje vend radikal kunder turperimit. Njerezit pranonin sekrete turperuese per veten, dhe njerezit e tjere thoshin, "Oh Zot, jam ekzakteshisht njesoj." Njerezit pa "ze" e kuptuan qe e kishin ze, qe ishte i fuqishem dhe elokuent. Nese nje gazete do te publikonte ndonje kolone rraciste ose homofobike, ne e kuptuam qe mund te benim dicka rreth kesaj. Mund ti "kapnim". Mund ti godisnim me nje arme qe ne e kuptonim dhe ata jo-- turperimi ne rrjetet sociale. Publikuesit do te terhiqnin reklamimet e tyre. Kur njerezit e fuqishem keperdornin privilegjet e tyre, ne turreshim per ti kapur. Ishte si demokratizimi i drejtesise, Hierarkite po sheshoheshin. Ne do ti benim gjerat me mire.
Soon after that, a disgraced pop science writer called Jonah Lehrer -- he'd been caught plagiarizing and faking quotes, and he was drenched in shame and regret, he told me. And he had the opportunity to publicly apologize at a foundation lunch. This was going to be the most important speech of his life. Maybe it would win him some salvation. He knew before he arrived that the foundation was going to be live-streaming his event, but what he didn't know until he turned up, was that they'd erected a giant screen Twitter feed right next to his head. (Laughter) Another one in a monitor screen in his eye line.
Shume shpejt pas kesaj, nje shkrimtar i diskredituar i shkences pop Jonah Lehner-- eshte kapur duke kopjuar dhe pervetesuar kuotime, dhe u permbyt ne turp dhe pendim, me tha. Ai pati mundesine per te kerkuar falje publikisht ne nje dreke Fondacioni. Ky kishte per te qene fjalimi me i rendesishem ne jeten e tij. Ndoshta mund ti sillte pak shpetim. Ai e dinte para se te mberrinte qe fondacioni do ta trasmetonte live eventin, por ajo qe nuk dinte deri ne momentin qe mberriti, ishte qe kishin vendosur nje ekran gjigand ngjitur me koken e tij ku shfaqeshin publikimet ne Twitter. (Te qeshura) Nje tjeter ne nje ekran monitori, ne vijen e tij te shikimit.
I don't think the foundation did this because they were monstrous. I think they were clueless: I think this was a unique moment when the beautiful naivety of Twitter was hitting the increasingly horrific reality.
Nuk mendoj qe fondacioni e beri kete sepse ishin monstruoz. Mendoj qe ata nuk ishin ne djeni; mendoj qe ky ishte nje moment unik kur naiviteti i bukur i Twitter po godiste realitetin gjithmone e me te frikshem.
And here were some of the Tweets that were cascading into his eye line, as he was trying to apologize:
Keto jane disa nga Tweets qe po i kalonin perpara syve, nderkohe qe po mundohej te kerkonte ndjese:
"Jonah Lehrer, boring us into forgiving him." (Laughter)
"Jonah Lehner, duke na merzitur deri ne faljen e tij." (Te qeshura)
And, "Jonah Lehrer has not proven that he is capable of feeling shame."
Dhe "Jonah Lehner nuk ka provuar qe eshte i afte te ndiej turp."
That one must have been written by the best psychiatrist ever, to know that about such a tiny figure behind a lectern.
Kjo duhet te jete shkruar nga psikiatri me i mire i te tera koherave, ta thuash kete rreth nje figure aq te zvogeluar pas podiumit.
And, "Jonah Lehrer is just a frigging sociopath."
Dhe "Jonah Lehner eshte nje sociopat i m***t."
That last word is a very human thing to do, to dehumanize the people we hurt. It's because we want to destroy people but not feel bad about it. Imagine if this was an actual court, and the accused was in the dark, begging for another chance, and the jury was yelling out, "Bored! Sociopath!" (Laughter)
Fjala e fundit eshte nje gje shume njerezore per tu thene, per te dehumanizuar njerezit qe lendojme. Ndodh pasi duam te shkaterrojme njerezit por te mos ndihemi keq rreth kesaj. Imagjinoni sikur ky te ishte nje gjyq i vertete, dhe i akuzuari te ishte ne erresire, duke u pergjeruar per nje mundesi tjeter, dhe juria te ishte duke bertitur, "I merzitshem! Sociopat!" (Te qeshura)
You know, when we watch courtroom dramas, we tend to identify with the kindhearted defense attorney, but give us the power, and we become like hanging judges.
E dini, kur ne shohim drama ne sallen e gjyqit, identifikohemi me avokatin mbrojtes zemermire, por na jep pushtetin, dhe ne behemi si gjykates vares.
Power shifts fast. We were getting Jonah because he was perceived to have misused his privilege, but Jonah was on the floor then, and we were still kicking, and congratulating ourselves for punching up. And it began to feel weird and empty when there wasn't a powerful person who had misused their privilege that we could get. A day without a shaming began to feel like a day picking fingernails and treading water.
Pushteti zhvendoset shpejt. Ne i ishim perveshur Jonah se mendohej se kishte keqperdorur privilegjet e tij, por Jonah ishte pertok ne ate moment, dhe ne ende po e gjuanim, dhe pergezonim veten per gjuajtjet. Dhe filloi te ndjehej bosh dhe cuditshem kur nuk kishte nje person te fuqishem qe kishte keqperdorur privilegjet e veta qe ne ti pervisheshim. Nje dite pa turperim filloi te ndihej si nje dite ngrenie thonjsh dhe "ne vend qendro".
Let me tell you a story. It's about a woman called Justine Sacco. She was a PR woman from New York with 170 Twitter followers, and she'd Tweet little acerbic jokes to them, like this one on a plane from New York to London: [Weird German Dude: You're in first class. It's 2014. Get some deodorant." -Inner monologue as inhale BO. Thank god for pharmaceuticals.] So Justine chuckled to herself, and pressed send, and got no replies, and felt that sad feeling that we all feel when the Internet doesn't congratulate us for being funny. (Laughter) Black silence when the Internet doesn't talk back. And then she got to Heathrow, and she had a little time to spare before her final leg, so she thought up another funny little acerbic joke:
Me lejoni tju tregoj nje histori. Eshte rreth nje gruaje te quajtur Justine Sacco. Ajo ishte nje PR nga New York me 170 ndjekes ne Twitter, dhe ajo u postonte atyre shaka te hidhura, si ajo ne nje avion nga New York ne Londer: [Burre i cuditshem Gjerman: Je ne klasin e pare. Eshte 2014-ta. Perdor deodorant." -Monolog i brendshem nderkohe qe thith eren. Shyqyr zotit ekzistojne farmaceutiket.] Justine nenqeshi me vete dhe shtypi "dergo" dhe nuk mori asnje pergjigje, dhe ndjeu ate ndjesine e trishte qe te tere ndjejme kur interneti nuk na pergezon qe kemi humor. (Te qeshura) Heshtje e erret kur interneti nuk na pergjigjet. Me pas mberriti ne Heathrow dhe kishte pak kohe te lire para ndaleses se saj te fundit dhe mendoi nje shaka tjeter te hidhur dhe gazmore:
[Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!]
[Duke shkuar ne Afrike. Shpresoj mos te marr AIDS. Bej shaka. Jam e bardhe!]
And she chuckled to herself, pressed send, got on the plane, got no replies, turned off her phone, fell asleep, woke up 11 hours later, turned on her phone while the plane was taxiing on the runway, and straightaway there was a message from somebody that she hadn't spoken to since high school, that said, "I am so sorry to see what's happening to you." And then another message from a best friend, "You need to call me right now. You are the worldwide number one trending topic on Twitter." (Laughter)
Dhe nenqeshi me vete, shtypi "dergo", hipi ne avion, nuk mori asnje pergjigje, fiku telefonin, ra ne gjume, u zgjua pas 11 oresh, ndezi telefonin nderkohe qe avioni po zbriste ne piste dhe menjehere kishte nje mesazh nga dikush me te cilin nuk kishte folur qe prej gjimnazit, qe thoshte, "me vjen keq te shoh se cfare po te ndodh." Dhe nje mesazh tjeter nga nje shoqe e ngushte, "Duhet te me telefonosh menjehere. Je tema me e biseduar ne Twitter ne rang boteror." (Te qeshura)
What had happened is that one of her 170 followers had sent the Tweet to a Gawker journalist, and he retweeted it to his 15,000 followers: [And now, a funny holiday joke from IAC's PR boss] And then it was like a bolt of lightning. A few weeks later, I talked to the Gawker journalist. I emailed him and asked him how it felt, and he said, "It felt delicious." And then he said, "But I'm sure she's fine."
Cfare kishte ndodhur ishte qe nje nga 170 ndjekesit e saj e kishte derguar Tweet-in tek nje gazetar i Gawker, dhe ai e kishte ripostuar tek 15,000 ndjekesit e tij: [Dhe tani, nje shaka pushimesh nga shefi i PR tek IAC] Dhe me pas ishte si nje stuhi rrufesh. Disa jave me vone, fola me gazetarin e Gawker. I dergova nje email ku e pyeta se si u ndje, dhe ai tha, "Mrekullisht." Dhe me pas shtoi, "Por jam i sigurt qe ajo eshte shume mire."
But she wasn't fine, because while she slept, Twitter took control of her life and dismantled it piece by piece. First there were the philanthropists: [If @JustineSacco's unfortunate words ... bother you, join me in supporting @CARE's work in Africa.] [In light of ... disgusting, racist tweet, I'm donating to @care today] Then came the beyond horrified: [... no words for that horribly disgusting racist as fuck tweet from Justine Sacco. I am beyond horrified.]
Por ajo nuk ishte fare mire, sepse nderkohe qe ajo flinte, Twitter mori kontrollin mbi jeten e saj dhe e shperbeu ate pjese pjese. Ne fillim ishin filantropet: [Nese fjalet fatkeqe te @JustineSacco... ju shqetesojne, bashkohuni me mua ne mbeshtetjen e punes se @CARE ne Afrike.] [Ne djeni te...tweete-ve te shpifura rraciste, po dhuroj tek @care sot] Pastaj erdhen te tmerruarrit pamase: [...nuk kam fjale per tweet-in e tmerrshem, te shpifur dhe rracist nga Justine Sacco. Jam i tmerruar pamase.]
Was anybody on Twitter that night? A few of you. Did Justine's joke overwhelm your Twitter feed the way it did mine? It did mine, and I thought what everybody thought that night, which was, "Wow, somebody's screwed! Somebody's life is about to get terrible!" And I sat up in my bed, and I put the pillow behind my head, and then I thought, I'm not entirely sure that joke was intended to be racist. Maybe instead of gleefully flaunting her privilege, she was mocking the gleeful flaunting of privilege. There's a comedy tradition of this, like South Park or Colbert or Randy Newman. Maybe Justine Sacco's crime was not being as good at it as Randy Newman. In fact, when I met Justine a couple of weeks later in a bar, she was just crushed, and I asked her to explain the joke, and she said, "Living in America puts us in a bit of a bubble when it comes to what is going on in the Third World. I was making of fun of that bubble."
Ishte njeri ne Twitter ate nate? Disa prej jush. A e permbyti shakaja e Justine faqen tuaj te Twitter sic me ndodhi mua? Ndodhi tek e imja, dhe mendova ate qe cdokush mendoi ate nate, qe ishte, "Wow, dikush e pesoi! Jeta e dikujt eshte duke u bere e temerrshme!" Dhe u ula ne krevatin tim, vendosa jasteket pas kokes, dhe mendova, nuk jam teresisht i sigurt qe ajo shaka kishte qellim te ishte rraciste. Ndoshta ne vend te mburrjes me privilegjet e saj, ajo po tallej me kete mburrje me privilegjet. Ka nje tradite te kesaj ne komedi, si South Park ose Colbert ose Randy Newman. Ndoshta krimi i Justine Sacco ishte qe s'ishte aq e zonja sa Randy Newman. Ne fakt, kur takova Justine disa jave me vone ne nje bar, ajo ishte e derrmuar, dhe i kerkova te shpjegonte shakane, dhe ajo tha, "Te jetuarit ne Amerike te vendos brenda nje flluske sapuni kur behet fjale per ate qe ndodh ne Boten e Trete. Une po tallesha me ate fllusken."
You know, another woman on Twitter that night, a New Statesman writer Helen Lewis, she reviewed my book on public shaming and wrote that she Tweeted that night, "I'm not sure that her joke was intended to be racist," and she said straightaway she got a fury of Tweets saying, "Well, you're just a privileged bitch, too." And so to her shame, she wrote, she shut up and watched as Justine's life got torn apart.
Nje femer tjeter ne Twitter ate nate, nje shkrimtare e re, Helen Lewis, shqyrtoi librin tim per turperimin publik dhe shkroi qe publikoi nje Tweet ate nate, "Nuk jam e sigurt qe shakaja e saj kishte qellim te ishte rraciste," dhe tha qe menjehere mori nje furi Tweet-esh qe shkruanin, "Ndoshta edhe ti je nje k***e e privilegjuar." Dhe per turpin e saj, shkruante, ajo heshti dhe vezhgoi se si jeta e Justine u coptua.
It started to get darker: [Everyone go report this cunt @JustineSacco] Then came the calls for her to be fired. [Good luck with the job hunt in the new year. #GettingFired] Thousands of people around the world decided it was their duty to get her fired. [@JustineSacco last tweet of your career. #SorryNotSorry Corporations got involved, hoping to sell their products on the back of Justine's annihilation: [Next time you plan to tweet something stupid before you take off, make sure you are getting on a @Gogo flight!] (Laughter)
Filloi te behej akoma me e erret situata: [Te gjithe raportoni kete k****n @JustineSacco] Pastaj filuan kerkesat qe ajo te pushohej nga puna. [Fat te mbare ne kerkimin per pune ne vitin e ri. #PushimngaPuna] Mijera njerez rreth e rrotull botes vendosen qe ishte detyra e tyre ta pushonin nga puna. [@JustineSacco tweet-i i fundit i karrieres tende. #NukmeVjenKeq] Korporatat u perfshine me shpresen e shitjes se produkteve te tyre mbi kurrizin e asgjesimit te Justine: [Heres tjeter qe planifikoni te tweet dicka idiote para se te niseni me avion, sigurohuni qe po niseni me nje udhetim @Gogo flight!] (Te qeshura)
A lot of companies were making good money that night. You know, Justine's name was normally Googled 40 times a month. That month, between December the 20th and the end of December, her name was Googled 1,220,000 times. And one Internet economist told me that that meant that Google made somewhere between 120,000 dollars and 468,000 dollars from Justine's annihilation, whereas those of us doing the actual shaming -- we got nothing. (Laughter) We were like unpaid shaming interns for Google. (Laughter)
Shume kompani ishin duke bere shume para ate nate. E dini, emri i Justine normalisht kerkohej ne google rreth 40 here ne muaj. Ate muaj, nga 20 Dhjetori deri ne fund te Dhjetorit, emri i saj u kerkua ne Google 1,220,000 here. Dhe nje ekonomist i internetit me tha qe kjo nenkuptonte qe Google beri diku midis 120,000 dollare dhe 468,000 dollare nga asgjesimi i Justine, nderkohe ata nga ne qe bene turperimin e drejteperdrejt-- s'morem asgje. (Te qeshura) Ishim si praktikante turperimi pa pagese per Google. (Te qeshura)
And then came the trolls: [I'm actually kind of hoping Justine Sacco gets aids? lol] Somebody else on that wrote, "Somebody HIV-positive should rape this bitch and then we'll find out if her skin color protects her from AIDS." And that person got a free pass. Nobody went after that person. We were all so excited about destroying Justine, and our shaming brains are so simple-minded, that we couldn't also handle destroying somebody who was inappropriately destroying Justine. Justine was really uniting a lot of disparate groups that night, from philanthropists to "rape the bitch." [@JustineSacco I hope you get fired! You demented bitch... Just let the world know you're planning to ride bare back while in Africa.]
Pastaj filluan talljet: [Po filloj te shpresoj qe Justine Sacco te marri SiDA? lol] Dikush tjeter shkruajti rreth kesaj, "Dikush qe eshte HIV-positiv duhet ta perdhunoj kete k****n dhe pastaj do te zbulojme nese ngjyra e saj e lekures e mbron nga AIDS." Dhe ky personi u la te kalonte. Askush nuk e sulmoi ate. Ishim te gjithe kaq entuziaste te shkaterronim Justine, dhe truri yne turperues eshte kaq i thjeshte, saqe nuk mund te perballonim te shkaterronim dike qe po shkaterronte Justine ne menyre te papershtatshme. Justine po bashkonte shume grupe te deshperuara ate nate, nga filantropet tek "perdhunoje k****n." [@JustineSacco shpresoj qe te pushohesh nga puna! K***e e cmendur... Beji botes te ditur qe planifikon te kalerosh pa shale nderkohe qe je ne Afrike.]
Women always have it worse than men. When a man gets shamed, it's, "I'm going to get you fired." When a woman gets shamed, it's, "I'm going to get you fired and raped and cut out your uterus."
Femrat gjithmone e kane me te veshtire se meshkujt. Nese nje mashkull turperohet, eshte, "Do bej te te pushojne nga puna." Kur nje femer turperohet, eshte, "Do bej te te pushojne nga puna dhe te te perdhunojne dhe te te presin uterusin.'
And then Justine's employers got involved: [IAC on @JustineSacco tweet: This is an outrageous, offensive comment. Employee in question currently unreachable on an intl flight.] And that's when the anger turned to excitement: [All I want for Christmas is to see @JustineSacco's face when her plane lands and she checks her inbox/voicemail. #fired] [Oh man, @justinesacco is going to have the most painful phone-turning-on moment ever when her plane lands.] [We are about to watch this @JustineSacco bitch get fired. In REAL time. Before she even KNOWS she's getting fired.] What we had was a delightful narrative arc. We knew something that Justine didn't. Can you think of anything less judicial than this? Justine was asleep on a plane and unable to explain herself, and her inability was a huge part of the hilarity. On Twitter that night, we were like toddlers crawling towards a gun. Somebody worked out exactly which plane she was on, so they linked to a flight tracker website. [British Airways Flight 43 On-time - arrives in 1 hour 34 minutes] A hashtag began trending worldwide: # hasJustineLandedYet? [It is kinda wild to see someone self-destruct without them even being aware of it. #hasJustineLandedYet] [Seriously. I just want to go home to go to bed, but everyone at the bar is SO into #HasJustineLandedYet. Can't look away. Can't leave.] [#HasJustineLandedYet may be the best thing to happen to my Friday night.] [Is no one in Cape Town going to the airport to tweet her arrival? Come on, twitter! I'd like pictures] And guess what? Yes there was. [@JustineSacco HAS in fact landed at Cape Town international. And if you want to know what it looks like to discover that you've just been torn to shreds because of a misconstrued liberal joke, not by trolls, but by nice people like us, this is what it looks like: [... She's decided to wear sunnies as a disguise.]
Pastaj punedhenesit e Justine u pefshine: [IAC per tweet-in e @JustineSacco: Ky eshte nje koment ofendues dhe i papranueshem. Punonjesja ne fjale eshte momentalisht e paarritshme ne nje udhetin nderkombetar.] Dhe aty inati u kthye ne ngazellim: [Gjithcka dua per Krishtlindje eshte te shoh fytyren e @JustineSacco kur avioni i saj te zbrese dhe ajo kontrollon inbox/mesazhet zanore. #epushuar] [@justinesacco do te kete momentin me te dhimbshem te ndezjes se telefonit kur avioni i saj te zbresi.] [Per pak do te shohim kete k****n @JustineSacco te pushohet nga puna. Ne kohe reale. Para se ajo vete te di qe po pushohet.] Ajo cfare ne kishim ishte nje hark narrativ tejet i bukur. Ne dinim dicka qe Justine nuk e dinte. A mund te mendoni dicka me gjykuese se kjo. Justine ishte ne gjume ne avion ne pamundesi per te shpjeguar veten, dhe pamundesia e saj ishte pjese e madhe e gallates. Ate nate ne Twitter, ne ishim si femije qe po zvarriteshim drejt nje arme. Dikush arriti te gjente saktesisht ne cilin avion ishte, dhe e lidhen me nje website qe ndiqte udhetimet. [Udhetimi i British Airways 43 mberrin ne kohe- per 1 ore e 34 minuta] Nje hashtag filloi te perhapej boterisht. #akazbriturJustineende? [Eshte pak cmenduri te shohesh dike te vetshkaterrohet pa qene vete i vetedijshem per ate qe po i ndodh. #akazbriturJustineende] [Seriozisht. Dua thjesht te shkoj ne shtepi qe te shtihem ne shtrat, por te gjithe tek bari jane te dhene pas #akazbriturJustineende Nuk mund te bej sikur nuk shoh. Nuk mund te iki.] [#akazbriturJustineende mund te jete gjeja me e mire qe i ka ndodhur te premtes time.] [A do shkoj dikush ne Cape Town ne aeroport te presi zbritjen e saj? Jepi Twitter! Dua foto.] Dhe gjejni cfare? Po, dikush shkoi. @JustineSacco KA zbritur ne fakt ne Cape Town Internacional. Dhe nese doni te dini se si duket dikush qe sapo eshte shperbere ne copa per shkak te nje shakaje liberale te keqkuptuar, jo nga karagjoze, por nga njerez te sjellshem si ne, kjo eshte si duket: [...Ajo vendosi te vishte syzet si nje mbulim.]
So why did we do it? I think some people were genuinely upset, but I think for other people, it's because Twitter is basically a mutual approval machine. We surround ourselves with people who feel the same way we do, and we approve each other, and that's a really good feeling. And if somebody gets in the way, we screen them out. And do you know what that's the opposite of? It's the opposite of democracy. 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 this profoundly un-compassionate act. As Meghan O'Gieblyn wrote in the Boston Review, "This isn't social justice. It's a cathartic alternative."
Pse e beme dicka te tille? Mendoj qe disa ishin realisht te merzitur, por mendoj per njerezit e tjere, ndoshi sepse Twitter eshte ne thelb nje makine aprovimi reciprok. E rrethojme veten me njerez qe ndihen ne te njejten menyre si ne, dhe aprovojme njeri tjetrin, dhe kjo eshte nje ndjenje shume e mire. Dhe nese dikush nderhyn, ne i perjashtojme ata. Dhe e dini e kunderta e kujt eshte kjo? Eshte e kunderta e Demokracise. Donim te tregonim qe na vinte keq per njerezit qe po vdisnin nga AIDS ne Afrike. Deshira jone per tu pare si te dhembshur eshte ajo qe na nxiti drejt ketij veprimi thelbesisht jo te dhembshur. Ashtu si shkroi Meghan O'Gieblyn ne shkrimin tek Boston REview, "Kjo nuk eshte drejtesi sociale eshte nje alernative per katharsis."
For the past three years, I've been going around the world meeting people like Justine Sacco -- and believe me, there's a lot of people like Justine Sacco. There's more every day. And we want to think they're fine, but they're not fine. The people I met were mangled. They talked to me about depression, and anxiety and insomnia and suicidal thoughts. One woman I talked to, who also told a joke that landed badly, she stayed home for a year and a half. Before that, she worked with adults with learning difficulties, and was apparently really good at her job.
Gjate tre viteve te fundit, Une ka shetitur boten duke takuar njerez si Justine Sacco-- dhe me besoni, ka shume njerez si Justine Sacco. Ka perdite e me shume. Dhe duam te mendojme qe jane shume mire, por ata nuk jane mire. Njerezit qe takova ishin te gjymtuar. Me flisnin rreth depresionit, ankthit dhe pagjumesise dhe mendimeve vetvrasese. Nje femer me te cilen fola qe po ashtu tha nje shaka qe u mor per keq, qendroi ne shtepi per nje vit e gjysem. Para kesaj, ajo punonte me te rritur me veshtiresi ne te mesuar, dhe ishte shume e mire ne punen e saj.
Justine was fired, of course, because social media demanded it. But it was worse than that. She was losing herself. She was waking up in the middle of the night, forgetting who she was. She was got because she was perceived to have misused her privilege. And of course, that's a much better thing to get people for than the things we used to get people for, like having children out of wedlock. But the phrase "misuse of privilege" is becoming a free pass to tear apart pretty much anybody we choose to. It's becoming a devalued term, and it's making us lose our capacity for empathy and for distinguishing between serious and unserious transgressions.
Justine u pushua nga puna, sigurisht, sepse rrjetet sociale e kerkuan. Por ishte me keq se aq. Ajo po humbiste veten. Ajo zgjohej ne mes te nates dhe harronte se kush ishte. Ajo u vu ne shenjester sepse u perceptua qe po perdorte privilegjet e saj. Dhe patjeter, eshte nje arsye shume me e mire per tu vene nen shenjster sesa arsyet e tjera qe perdornim, si te paturit femije jashte martese. Shprehja "Shperdorim i privilegjeve" po kthehet ne nje leje per te coptuar pothuajse kedo qe ne zgjedhim. Po kthehet ne nje shprehje te zhvleresuar, dhe po na ben te humbasim aftesine tone per empati dhe per te dalluar midis shkeljeve serioze dhe atyre joserioze.
Justine had 170 Twitter followers, and so to make it work, she had to be fictionalized. Word got around that she was the daughter the mining billionaire Desmond Sacco. [Let us not be fooled by #JustineSacco her father is a SA mining billionaire. She's not sorry. And neither is her father.] I thought that was true about Justine, until I met her at a bar, and I asked her about her billionaire father, and she said, "My father sells carpets."
Justine kishte 170 ndjekes ne Twitter, dhe per ta bere te funksiononte, ajo duhej te kthehej ne nje karakter joreal. Zbuluam qe ajo ishte vajza e miljarderit te minierave Desmond Sacco. [Mos te genjehemi nga #JustineSacco i ati i saj eshte milrajder minierash. Asaj nuk i vjen keq. As te atit te saj.] Mendoja se kjo ishte e vertet rreth Justine, deri kur e takova ne nje lokal, dhe e pyeta per babain e saj miljarder, dhe ajo tha, "Im at shet tapete."
And I think back on the early days of Twitter, when people would admit shameful secrets about themselves, and other people would say, "Oh my God, I'm exactly the same." These days, the hunt is on for people's shameful secrets. You can lead a good, ethical life, but some bad phraseology in a Tweet can overwhelm it all, become a clue to your secret inner evil.
Dhe kujtohem rreth diteve te hershme te Twitter, kur njerezit pranonin sekrete te turpshme rreth vetes, dhe njerezit e tjere thoshin "O zot, jam ekzaktesisht keshtu." Keto dite, gjuetia ka filluar per sekretet e pista te njerezve. Mund te jetojme nje jete te mire dhe etike, por nje shprehje e keqe ne nje Tweet mund ta permbysi te gjithen, dhe te kthehet ne nje sinjal te te keqit sekret brenda teje.
Maybe there's two types of people in the world: those people who favor humans over ideology, and those people who favor ideology over humans. I favor humans over ideology, but right now, the ideologues are winning, and they're creating a stage for constant artificial high dramas where everybody's either a magnificent hero or a sickening villain, even though we know that's not true about our fellow humans. What's true is that we are clever and stupid; what's true is that we're grey areas. The great thing about social media was how it gave a voice to voiceless people, but we're now creating a surveillance society, where the smartest way to survive is to go back to being voiceless.
Ndoshta ka dy lloj njerezish ne bote: ata qe i japin perparesi njeriut perpara ideologjise, dhe ata qe i japin perparesi ideologjise perpara njeriut. Une i jap perparesi njeriut perpara ideologjise, por tani, ideologet po fitojne, dhe po krijojne nje skene per dramacitet artificial te vazhdueshem ku kushdo ose eshte nje hero i mahnitshem ose nje keqberes i pershtire, edhe pse e dime qe kjo nuk eshte e vertete per njerezit. Cfare eshte e vertete eshte qe ne jemi te zgjuar dhe budallenj, cfare eshte e vertet eshte qe ne jemi ne zona gri. Aspekti me i fuqishem i mediave sociale ishte dhenia e nje zeri njerezve pa ze, por tani po krijojme nje shoqeri vezhgimi, ku menyra me e zgjuar per te mbijetuar eshte te kthehesh ne te qenin pa ze.
Let's not do that.
Mos ta bejme kete gje.
Thank you.
Faleminderit.
(Applause)
(Duartrokitje)
Bruno Giussani: Thank you, Jon.
Bruno Giussani: Faleminderit, Jon.
Jon Ronson: Thanks, Bruno.
Jon Ronson: Faleminderit, Bruno.
BG: Don't go away. What strikes me about Justine's story is also the fact that if you Google her name today, this story covers the first 100 pages of Google results -- there is nothing else about her. In your book, you mention another story of another victim who actually got taken on by a reputation management firm, and by creating blogs and posting nice, innocuous stories about her love for cats and holidays and stuff, managed to get the story off the first couple pages of Google results, but it didn't last long. A couple of weeks later, they started creeping back up to the top result. Is this a totally lost battle?
BG: Mos u largo. Cfare me befason ne historine e Justine eshte fakti qe po e kerkove emrin e saj ne Google sot, kjo histori mbulon 100 faqet e para ne rezultatet e Google nuk ka asgje tjeter rreth saj. Ne librin tuaj, ju permendni nje histori tjeter te nje tjeter viktime qe u mor persiper nga nje firme e menaxhimit te reputacionit, dhe me krijimin e blogjeve dhe postimeve te kendshme, histori te pafajshme rreth dashurire se saj per macet pushime dhe gjera te tjera arriti ta hiqte historine nga faqet e para te Google por nuk zgjati shume. Disa jave me vone, filluan te ngjiteshin serish ne fillim te rezultateve. A eshte nje beteje e humbur perfundimisht?
Jon Ronson: You know, I think the very best thing we can do, 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 was that nobody supported her -- like, everyone was against her, and that is profoundly traumatizing, to be told by tens of thousands of people that you need to get out. But if a shaming happens and there's a babble of voices, like in a democracy, where people are discussing it, I think that's much less damaging. So I think that's the way forward, but it's hard, because if you do stand up for somebody, it's incredibly unpleasant.
Jon Ronson: Mendoj gjeja me e mire qe mund te bejme, kur shohim kete lloj turperimi te pandershem eshte te flasim, sepse mendoj qe gjeja me e keqe qe i ndodhi Justine eshte qe askush nuk e mbeshteti te gjithe ishin kunder saj, dhe kjo eshte thellesisht traumatizuese, te te thone qindra, mijera njerez qe duhet te largohesh. Por nese turperimi ndodh dhe ka disa zera, si ne demokraci, kur njerezit e diskutojne rreth saj, mendoj qe kjo eshte shume me pak e demshme. Mendoj qe kjo eshte rruga per te perparuar, por eshte e veshtire, sepse nese ti del ne mbrojtje te dikujt, eshte tmerresisht e pakendshme.
BG: So let's talk about your experience, because you stood up by writing this book. By the way, it's mandatory reading for everybody, okay? You stood up because the book actually puts the spotlight on shamers. And I assume you didn't only have friendly reactions on Twitter.
BG: Le te flasim per eksperience tuaj, sepse ju moret nje qendrim duke shkruajtur kete lliber. Meqe ra fjala, eshte e detyrueshme te lexohet nga te gjithe, dakord? Ju mbajtet qendrim sepse libri e vendos fokusin tek "turperuesit". Dhe besoj nuk patet vetem reagime miqesore ne Twitter.
JR: It didn't go down that well with some people. (Laughter) I mean, you don't want to just concentrate -- 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, and when I say the powerful people over there in the military, or in the pharmaceutical industry, everybody applauds me. As soon as I say, "We are the powerful people abusing our power now," I get people saying, "Well you must be a racist too."
JR: Nuk shkoi dhe aq mire me disa njerez. (Te qeshura) Dua te them, qe nuk dua te perqendrohem sepse shume njerez kuptuan dhe ishin shume te sjellshem per librin. Por po, per 30 vjet kam shkruajtur histori rreth abuzimeve me fuqine, dhe kur them njerezit e fuqishem atje tek ushtria, ose ne industrine farmaceutike te gjithe me duartrokasin. Sapo them " Ne jemi personat me fuqi qe po abuzojme me fuqine tone." Njerezit me thone "Atehere dhe ti duhet te jesh nje racist."
BG: So the other night -- yesterday -- we were at dinner, and there were two discussions going on. On one side you were talking with people around the table -- and that was a nice, constructive discussion. On the other, every time you turned to your phone, there is this deluge of insults.
BG: Nje nate me para dje- ishim duke ngrene darke, dhe ishin dy diskutime qe po zhvilloheshin. Nga njera ane ju po flisnit me njerezit rreth tavolines-- dhe ishte nje bashkebisedim i kendshem dhe konstruktiv. Nga ana tjeter, sa here ndiznit telefonin kishte nje varg ofendimesh.
JR: Yeah. This happened last night. We had like a TED dinner last night. We were chatting and it was lovely and nice, and I decided to check Twitter. Somebody said, "You are a white supremacist." And then I went back and had a nice conversation with somebody, and then I went back to Twitter, somebody said my very existence made the world a worse place. My friend Adam Curtis says that maybe the Internet is like a John Carpenter movie from the 1980s, when eventually everyone will start screaming at each other and shooting each other, and then eventually everybody would flee to somewhere safer, and I'm starting to think of that as a really nice option.
JR: Po, kjo ndodhi naten e kaluar. Kishim si nje darke TED mbreme. Po bisedonim dhe ishte shume e kendshme dhe une vendosa te kontrolloja Twitter. Dikush tha" Ti je nje supermacist i bardhe." Pastaj u ktheva dhe pata nje bisede te kendshme me dike, pastaj u ktheva serish ne Twitter, dikush tha qe vete ekzistenca ime e bente boten nje vend me te keq. Miku ik Adam Curtis tha qe ndoshta interneti eshte si nje film i John Carpenteer i 1980's ku heret e vone te gjithe do fillojne ti bertasin njeri-tjetrit dhe ti gjuajne njeri-tjetrit, dhe ne nje moment dikush do te arratiset ne nje vend te sigurt, dhe po filloj ta mendoj si nje opsion te mire.
BG: Jon, thank you. JR: Thank you, Bruno.
BG: Faleminderit! JR: Faleminderit Bruno.
(Applause)
(Duartrokitje)