Well That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist

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In this hilarious and helpful memoir in essays, Franchesca Ramsey breaks down online misbehavior and how to handle it with an expert's voice while telling her story of fledgling YouTuber to superstar. She reveals what it was like for her famous S--- White Girls Say to Black Girls video to go viral, both the highs and the lows, including being criticized savagely by those she thought were on her side. In the process, she also deconstructs the difference between constructive criticism, whether calling out or calling in, and barbs that ultimately are unlikely to be heard or absorbed by the recipient. This is brought to light in her chapter "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (It's Lena Dunham) about having mocked Dunham's show Girls online, along with the creator herself, only to find herself seated next to her at a private dinner. She also writes about activism and self-care, the balancing act of unfriending people on social media, her interracial relationship and how such relationships are treated by both white people and black people, and much more. I found the chapter "Stop Hating and Start Studying," about professional jealousy and learning from her online nemeses rather than simply snarking, the most insightful and relevant to my life. As befitting the title, Ramsey shares many of her mistakes, from responding too heatedly online (sound familiar?) to piling on a person who eventually left the platform she was being berated on, to other foibles that show she isn’t looking down from on high as a social media master but instead sharing her evolution as an online personality who wields a lot of power with her words. You don't have to be an activist to take away a better sense of how to conduct yourself online from this book, but activists will likely glean even more insights, as it's largely geared around her activist work but also relatable to anyone who's glued to their phone. This book is likely to make you laugh, and if you spend any time at all online, to also make you think...and think twice before posting that next comment, anonymously or not.