Fantastic TedTalk about Cyber Bullying / Public Humiliation and Shaming

[tammywammy]

Really great message about ending the culture of shaming people on the internet.

If you can't watch the video, there's a transcript here: https://www.ted.com/talks/monica_lewinsky_the_price_of_shame

[kelly1mm]

1. I found it ironic that earlier threads discussing this right here on DU very quickly

devolved into just the type of cyber bullying / public humiliation / shaming being discussed.

Further, if not for cyber bullying / public humiliation / shaming a good number of posts here would be gone! Maybe that is a good thing? Maybe not? For example, is it OK to subject Ted Cruz to cyber bullying / public humiliation / shaming? If it is OK because he is holing himself out to the public then OK.

What about George Zimmermann? Ok to subject him to cyber bullying / public humiliation / shaming?

Where is the line is the question I suppose.

[ND-Dem]

7. very obvious. people we dislike or disagree with may be bullied, mocked & shamed.

bonus points if they are individuals without powerful connections (like Zimmerman as opposed to cruz).

and the folks at free republic feel the same, only toward a different group of people.

[loyalsister]

9. Good question

The way I have thought would be appropriate when looking at the demonization of Obama is to tell people, if you don't like his policies disagree, talk about it, and put forth alternatives. Delving into other areas of criticism and bring them to the forefront is desperate and petty.
I think that could apply to other situations as well. Zimmermann? We live in a country and culture where he honestly felt that his behavior was appropriate. The real problem with it is the fact that his belief is institutionally codified.

Her descriptions of her experience really made me think. I think she deserves a lot of credit for using that trauma to offer support and advocacy in opposition to cyberbullying.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. I felt sorry for Monica and what she went through.

Yes, there was a serious power differential even though it was consensual. I thought Ken Starr was on a futile witch hunt.

Bill Clinton should have said, "It's none of your goddamned business". Monica shouldn't have told Linda Tripp, who backstabbed her, although she could not have known that at the time.

There's a cemetery a few miles up the road from me called "Starr Cemetery". Ken's mother is buried there.

The Repubs thought a blowjob was a Constitutional crisis and America yawned and found other things to worry about.

[cwydro]

16. What ever happened to the Linda Tripp creature?

I could not stand her.

[Raine1967]

24. Last I knew, she and her husband are the owners of a christmas type shop in western Virginia.

[cwydro]

25. She was a real piece of work.

I've known people like her before.

Ugh.

[Raine1967]

27. Of all the people involved with that mess, I found her the worst.

Everything she did was all about a book deal. She had a literary agent FFS. She had a potential book deal based on her workings in the pentagon and White House.

I have known people and do know people like her as well.

Once I figure them out, they go on a list. I forgive a lot — people of that ilk, I don't forget — ever.

[cwydro]

28. Completely agree.

Horrid woman.

[Dems to Win]

3. It's gotten quite the positive response on Twitter

Many have viewed the video, it's gone viral.

Hats off to Monica.

[Warpy]

4. I agree. It pleasantly surprised me.

She has a lot of good things to say, so if you haven't watched it, do so.

[loyalsister]

5. It woke me up

I was so wrong about that situation when I laughed at the jokes and demonization. And, I zealously defended Clinton.

I think it is amazingly compassionate for her to publicly show empathy by retelling the horror of her experience. She's a class act. Thanks for posting.

[ND-Dem]

6. Monica's stepfather was Peter Straus.

NEW YORK (AllPolitics, Feb. 2) -- Marcia Lewis, mother of former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, is engaged to marry a New York media executive with ties to Democratic politics. Her future groom is a friend of Washington superlawyer Vernon Jordan.

Lewis, 49, who divorced Monica's father, California doctor Bernard Lewinsky in 1987, is engaged to R. Peter Straus, Straus confirmed to CNN in a telephone interview. Peter Straus, as he is known, is the chairman of Straus Communications, a newspaper and radio chain... The private company owns 11 radio stations and five newspapers...

Straus is 74. His wife of 45 years, Ellen Sulzberger Straus, a member of the family that controls The New York Times, died of cancer in 1995. Jordan spoke at the funeral. Straus said he and his first wife were friends with Vernon and Ann Jordan for more than 20 years...

Straus is a longtime supporter of the Democratic Party. He was a New York delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1960 and 1964. He served in the State Department under President Lyndon Johnson as the assistant administrator for Africa AID (Agency for International Development), from 1967-69. He also served under President Jimmy Carter as director of Voice of America from 1977-79.

Straus is an alumnus of Yale University, a World War II veteran who served in the Air Force...Straus says he has met Monica only once or twice, over dinner with her mother. He described her as "lovely," "bubbly," and "nice." He would not comment on the nature or veracity of Lewinsky's alleged affair with the president.

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/02/02/monica.mom/


...Straus, whose grandfather was a principal owner of Macy’s department store, was born into a wealthy and politically active family in New York.

...campaign manager for Robert F. Kennedy’s successful run for the U.S. Senate from New York...

He stayed on after the war as an official in the military occupation of Germany. He then worked for pioneering public relations executive Edward L. Bernays before joining his family’s radio business.

Mr. Straus, who spoke six languages, served with the International Labor Office, a branch of the United Nations, in Geneva from 1950 to 1955

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/r-peter-straus-media-executive-who-led-voa-under-carter-dies-at-89/2012/08/08/e726bcbe-e189-11e1-a25e-
15067bb31849_story.html


Ronald Peter Straus, who almost never used his first name, was born in Manhattan on Feb. 15, 1923, the son of Nathan Straus Jr. and Helen Sachs Straus. (Helen Sachs uncle = Sachs of Goldman Sachs) His father, who became director of the United States Housing Authority under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and a New York State senator, bought WMCA in 1943. The company, Straus Communications, later owned many radio stations and newspapers in the Hudson Valley and New Jersey.

Peter had other notable antecedents: his grandfather, Nathan Straus Sr., was a philanthropist who co-owned the R. H. Macy and Abraham & Straus department stores. A great-uncle, Isidor, who went down on the Titanic in 1912, was a congressman and co-owner of Macy’s; another, Oscar Solomon, was ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and President Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary of commerce and labor...

Mr. Straus and his second wife, Marcia Lewis, mother of the former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, were married in 1998. They were introduced by a mutual Washington friend in 1997, months before the scandal of Ms. Lewinsky’s relationship with President Bill Clinton became public in January 1998...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/09/business/r-peter-straus-wmca-radio-pioneer-dies-at-89.html?_r=0

[tammywammy]

8. What does this have to do with her discussion regarding cyber bullying and public shame?

Did you watch the video?

[ND-Dem]

10. I thought it was an interesting coincidence, as he was a rather powerful and connected person.

I'm not really interested in Monica's thoughts about cyberbullying, sorry.

IMO, that's not what that whole episode was about.

on edit: watched it, didn't find it interesting or enlightening.

[zappaman]

12. I thought it had it's Hi Points!

[ND-Dem]

13. figures

[LanternWaste]

23. It does indeed.

It does indeed. Almost to a "t".

[zappaman]

29. Grrrr!

[NuclearDem]

14. "didn't find it interesting or enlightening."

You don't say?

[ND-Dem]

18. No, I did say. Is being fascinated with monica lewinsky now a criterion for being a

good democrat, and are you a minder?



things have certainly changed in the party.

[NuclearDem]

19. You're the one making it about Monica.

I couldn't care less what someone's views on her are as they relate to being a Democrat. Cyberbullying is slightly more important.

[ND-Dem]

21. ....

[zappaman]

22. Good point!

[NuclearDem]

26. Figures.

Congratulations though. You successfully took what should have been a discussion about preventing bullying and turned into an opportunity to beat a horse that's been dead for two decades.

[tammywammy]

11. Kick. n/t

[NuclearDem]

15. "Public shaming as a blood sport has to end."

This.

Thanks for posting, I enjoyed it.

[tammywammy]

17. I found her very interesting

She clearly has a special perspective on this topic and I found it illuminating.

[zappaman]

20. Kick!

[riderinthestorm]

30. Thanks for posting this. I heard an NPR reporter @ this talk and hoped to see it

she was discussing how badly the media treated Lewinsky - the slut shaming and language were incredibly harmful and, she admitted, bullying.

She had nothing but praise for Lewinsky for coming forward now and taking up this cause.

Thanks for posting!!

[tammywammy]

31. The slut shaming hasn't ended.

There are posters here that were doing it recent.

[zappaman]

32. Figures.

[Rex]

33. When she gives back every single dime she made off of her infamy, I might pay attention.

People get really noble when the bank account starts to shrink. I guess her contract with QVC and Jenny Craig expired. A lot of people are single, 40 ish, have no kids or husband/wife and not the best job in the world...yet they don't blame in on something that happened decades ago.

She is pure charlatan. Maybe not as predatory as Linda Tripp, but she has had decades to move on. I guess making money from something that happened in the past, is a way to live.

I guess.

[demmiblue]

34. That was very touching and insightful.

I almost didn't watch it... I am glad I did.

Brava, Ms. Lewinsky!