Pile-ons, performative outrage, apology rituals, and public humiliation have become a blood sport over the past decade. What happened? Was it a moral panic? A byproduct of new communications technologies? Or a storm in a teacup - a well-intentioned overreach, exaggerated by anti-woke right-wingers?

Clare Stephens is a feminist journalist who has spent years at the coalface of cancel culture. She spent years at Australia’s biggest independent women’s media outlet, Mamamia, copping heat from all sides and watching digital mobs turn ordinary mistakes into existential crises.

Now she’s written a novel about it, The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done, and created a podcast, The Pile-On. Clare and Josh unpack how cancel culture evolved, why it hit women differently from men, how shame works, and whether we’re beginning to find a healthier way of disagreeing online.

 

Pile-ons, performative outrage, apology rituals, and public humiliation have become a blood sport over the past decade. What happened? Was it a moral panic? A byproduct of new communications technologies? Or a storm in a teacup - a well-intentioned overreach, exaggerated by anti-woke right-wingers?
<a data-attrs="{&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Clare Stephens&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:57992676,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;user&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:null,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JvrF!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0a760a55-a416-4c0f-b6d8-4dfe8b77598a_1206x1206.png&quot;,&quot;uuid&quot;:&quot;de581cff-1526-479f-8ff5-be5d23d665ba&quot;}" data-component-name="MentionUser">Clare Stephens</a> is a feminist journalist who has spent years at the coalface of cancel culture. She spent years at Australia&rsquo;s biggest independent women&rsquo;s media outlet, Mamamia, copping heat from all sides and watching digital mobs turn ordinary mistakes into existential crises.
Now she&rsquo;s written a novel about it, The Worst Thing I&rsquo;ve Ever Done, and created a podcast, <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/68c7a48244d0096b8787a6ed">The Pile-On</a>. Clare and Josh unpack how cancel culture evolved, why it hit women differently from men, how shame works, and whether we&rsquo;re beginning to find a healthier way of disagreeing online.
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The world has never been more connected. Yet never more divided. We yell at each other from inside our echo chambers. But change doesn’t happen inside an echo chamber. It’s time to get out, to stretch our legs, to step on some land mines. It's time to have an uncomfortable conversation with Josh Szeps.

A DM Podcast

The world has never been more connected. Yet never more divided. We yell at each other from inside our echo chambers. But change doesn’t happen inside an echo chamber. It’s time to get out, to stretch our legs, to step on some land mines. It's time to have an uncomfortable conversation with Josh Szeps.
A DM Podcast

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