How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life review
The article, “How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life,” by Jon Ronson narrates a horror story about Justin Sacco. Notably, the article highlights how Sacco got shamed by the public after doing a racist tweet. In 2013, Sacco, a 30-year-old a d senior director of corporate communication at IAC, decided to visit her family in South Africa during the holidays. While at Heathrow International Airport for her final leg of her trip to Africa, Sacco tweeted: “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” (Ronson). Though she had followers on her tweeter feed, this tweet attracted thousands of criticisms from tweeter users. Many people who commented on this tweet expressed dismay about the level of ignorance and racism that Sacco displayed in her message. Some of them went ahead to demand her sacking from the corporate position because her character did not qualify her for such status (Ronson). The article ends by pointing out how social media is designed to manipulate the users’ desire for approval, which ultimately led to Sacco’s undoing. The author uses an accommodative title, first and third-person narrator, quotations, and simple language to make it enjoyable, improve its credibility, and easy to understand.
The author has perfectly captured the scope of the article by designing a short but accommodative tittle. The tittle reads, “How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justin Sacco’s Life.” Indeed, consistent with this title, the entire content of the article revolves around the shortcomings of Sacco’s racist tweet. Effectively, this strategy allows attracts the readers’ attention, especially enhancing their desire to continue reading the article.
The article uses both the first and third-person narrator to make the story interesting. In the beginning, the author tells the story through the third-person narrator. The main strength of this technique is that the author is in total control and does not need to consider the limitations caused by the first-person narration (Bulman 143). Towards the end of the article, the author emphasizes the story through the use of the first-person narrator. He talks about how he met Sacco afterward and tried to hear her perspective about the tweet (Ronson). While this technique enables the readers to capture first-hand information, sometimes it cannot be relied upon entirely because the narrator may be a liar (Bulman 143). Therefore, the use of both the first-person and second-person narration in this article presents strengths and limitations in equal measure.
The author continually incorporates direct quotes to improve the credibility of the story. Throughout the article, the author backs up his claims through a series of original tweets by Sacco and her tweeter critics. For instance, he quotes the following tweets to showcase how people reacted to Sacco’s tweet: “In light of @Justine-Sacco disgusting racist tweet, I’m donating to @care today” and “How did @JustineSacco get a PR job?! Her level of racist ignorance belongs on Fox News. #AIDS can affect anyone!”(Ronson). This technique makes the readers see the originality of the content.
Furthermore, the article is authored in a simple language to accommodate audiences of different literacy levels. While the story covers many aspects, whereby some touches on complex technological issues, the author has primarily keeps his message simple. This strategy accommodates readers of all understanding levels (Saskatchewan Literacy Network 7). In essence, this technique allows people with little understanding of the English language to capture the insights of the story without depending on the dictionary. Overall, the use of an accommodative title, first and third-person narrator, quotations, and simple language make this article interesting to read and easy to understand.