Things Fell Apart

4.6 (637)
PERSONAL JOURNALS
UPDATED WEEKLY

If you've ever yelled at someone on social media about, say, cancel culture or mask-wearing, then you are a soldier in the culture wars - those everyday battles for dominance between conflicting values. The acclaimed writer and podcaster Jon Ronson has seen friends swallowed up in them to the extent that it's ruined their lives. Jon was curious to learn how things fell apart, and so he went back into the history of the culture wars to find some of the origin stories: the pebbles thrown in the pond, creating the ripples that led us to where we are today. He had no idea what he'd find, but he's uncovered some extraordinary people and the strangest, yet most consequential tales.

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4.6

out of 5

637 Ratings

Compelling

19 Jul

mhuggies

Just listened to the most recent episode, an audience with Jon Ronson, which was excellent, like all the other episodes. I was particularly impressed by how he handled the interruption from a heckler, who had clearly come to try to disrupt him and promote many of the conspiracies that he tries to debunk. He was calm and respectful, but firm and confident, despite his protestations that he hates confrontation. I was actually prompted to write this review by the obvious irony that the advert following the end of the podcast was for “the BBC’s biggest paranormal podcast”. So much for BBC bias - promoting both sceptical debunking and credulous conspiracies in the same podcast!! 🤣 Also amused that my autocorrect wanted to change Jon to Zion! Conspiracies everywhere you look!!
Coward

23 Sept

Nicola Cherry

A medical and societal scandal is being inflicted on kids while the likes of Ron Jonson nod along. Meanwhile, he gets to chat smugly with his equally spineless friends, all whilst telling himself he’s still exploring the edgy topics. What a total sell-out.
Great

18 Jul

JimmyTheWheels

Curious, thoughtful, insightful journalism. Gets to the bottom of things. Love your work Jon 👍
Brilliant, compelling, empathetic

13 Jun

Rosiepoes

It’s ironic some of the reviews on here are clearly the result of warriors in the culture wars he does such a great job in tracing. Must feel threatening to them. The empathy for all perspectives is threatening to the current polarising status quo- more of this please! TV series BBC?

If you've ever yelled at someone on social media about, say, cancel culture or mask-wearing, then you are a soldier in the culture wars - those everyday battles for dominance between conflicting values. The acclaimed writer and podcaster Jon Ronson has seen friends swallowed up in them to the extent that it's ruined their lives. Jon was curious to learn how things fell apart, and so he went back into the history of the culture wars to find some of the origin stories: the pebbles thrown in the pond, creating the ripples that led us to where we are today. He had no idea what he'd find, but he's uncovered some extraordinary people and the strangest, yet most consequential tales.