TED演讲:网络暴力的失控(8)

Justine was fired, of course, because social media demanded it.

毫无疑问，贾丝婷把工作丢了，因为这是社交媒体上的民意。

But it was worse than that. She was losing herself.

但更糟的是，她逐渐迷失了自己。

She was waking up in the middle of the night, forgetting who she was.

有时她半夜醒来，竟然不记得自己是谁。

She was got because she was perceived to have misused² her privilege.

人们把她揪出来，是因为她肆无忌惮秀优越。

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 wedlock³.

这比起其他的原因大概好很多吧。从前我们把人揪出来是因为未婚先孕。

But the phrase "misuse¹ of privilege" is becoming a free pass to tear apart pretty much anybody we choose to.

但“秀优越”一词已经成了一张通用票，用来打压任何一个我们想打压的人。

It's becoming a devalued term,

这词已变得毫无价值，

and it's making us lose our capacity for empathy and for distinguishing between serious and unserious transgressions⁴.

让我们失去同情的能力，失去区分严重过错和无心之失的能力。

Justine had 170 Twitter followers⁵, and so to make it work, she had to be fictionalized.

贾丝婷的推特粉丝只有170名，因此，想让大家点赞，她得编个精彩的故事。

Word got around that she was the daughter the mining billionaire Desmond Sacco.

有传言说她是矿业大亨德斯蒙德·萨科的女儿。

I thought that was true about Justine, until I met her at a bar,

我也以为贾丝婷真是富家女。直到我在酒吧同她见面，

and I asked her about her billionaire father, and she said, "My father sells carpets."

问她富翁爸爸的事儿，她说：“我爸是卖地毯的。”

And I think back on the early days of Twitter, when people would admit shameful⁶ secrets about themselves,

我回想起推特刚上线的时候，那时人们还会随意爆一些自己的丑事，

and other people would say, "Oh my God, I'm exactly the same."

其他人就会说，“天啊，我跟你一样。”

These days, the hunt is on for people's shameful secrets.

现在呢，人人都在抓别人的丑事。

You can lead a good, ethical⁷ life, but some bad phraseology in a Tweet can overwhelm it all,

你本来生活无忧无虑，但若在推文中说错了只言片语，一切就都完了，

become a clue to your secret inner evil.

人们恨不得将你打入十八层地狱。

1 misuse   

n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用

参考例句：

• It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能，使我深感不安。
• He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。

2 misused   

v.使用…不当( misuse的过去式和过去分词 )；把…派作不正当的用途；虐待；滥用

参考例句：

• He misused his dog shamefully. 他可耻地虐待自己的狗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had grossly misused his power. 他严重滥用职权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 wedlock   

n.婚姻，已婚状态

参考例句：

• My wife likes our wedlock.我妻子喜欢我们的婚姻生活。
• The Fawleys were not made for wedlock.范立家的人就跟结婚没有缘。

4 transgressions   

n.违反，违法，罪过( transgression的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many marine transgressions occur across coastal plains. 许多海运是横越滨海平原。 来自辞典例句
• For I know my transgressions, and my sin always before me. 因为我知道我的过犯，我的罪常在我面前。 来自互联网

5 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

6 shameful   

adj.可耻的，不道德的

参考例句：

• It is very shameful of him to show off.他向人炫耀自己，真不害臊。
• We must expose this shameful activity to the newspapers.我们一定要向报社揭露这一无耻行径。

7 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。