“The Price of Shame” by Monica Lewinsky. Thesis The main point of the Ted talk is that public shaming, enabled by the rise of social media and the internet, has become a form of social control and punishment. Monica Lewinsky effectively argues and demonstrates how the media’s obsessive focus on her affair with the former president Bill Clinton in the late 1990”s is an example of the damaging effects of public shaming in the digital age. Supporting Arguments Firstly, Lewinsky begins her talk by acknowledging the difficulty of speaking publicly about her past and the shame she endured, stating that at "At 22, I fell in love with my boss and at 24”,“I learned the devastating consequences" (Lewinsky 00:1:50-00:1:56 ). She then proceeds to vividly …show more content…
Lewinsky skillfully weaves together personal anecdotes and broader societal observations to illustrate how the rise of social media and the 24/7 news cycle have exacerbated public shaming, creating a toxic environment where the "compassion deficit" leads people to pile on and degrade those who have made mistakes, with little regard for the immense psychological toll it can take. Method of Development -- choose the most important one The overall method of development used in the Ted Talk is in chronological order as Monica Lewinsky shares her personal story and experiences as the main focus. Firstly, Lewinsky begins recounting her own experiences with public shaming as she states, “I went from being a completely private figure to a publicly humiliated one worldwide”(Lewinsky 00:4:00-00:4:01). She then goes on to explain how this experience shaped her perspective on the issue of online harassment and public shaming, stating …show more content…
By opening up about her own struggle with her mental health following the scandal, Lewinsky talks about the challenges victims of online harassment face. Additionally, Lewinsky, urges society to reconsider how we treat those who have been publicly shamed. One of the main reasons I felt his TED talk was an appropriate topic is that it addresses the often-overlooked issue of the immense psychological damage and long-lasting consequences that public shaming can have on individuals, partially in the digital age where social media amplifies and prolongs this type of humiliation. The criticisms of TED in the article? According to the article "TED Confab is Speaking to the Masses -- and Drawing Scorn" by Chris O’Brien. One major criticism is that TED talks have become overly sensationalized and focused on entertainment value rather than substantive intellectual discourse. The article suggests that TED has been accused of reducing complex societal issues to simple, bite-sized narratives that gloss over nuance and fail to grapple with the true depth and difficulty of the problems being discussed. Works Cited for: O’Brien, Chris. “TED Confab Is Speaking to the Masses -- and Drawing Scorn - Los Angeles Times.” Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2019,