This is the story of the very first person to be publicly shamed because of something they did online. It’s 1988, the internet exists only in its most nascent form, and a software designer, Brad Templeton, uploads onto a message board a joke in poor taste. How the architects of the emerging internet respond to the joke will create a set of rules that the rest of us have lived under ever since… Written and presented by Jon Ronson
Produced by Sarah Shebbeare
Assistant Producer Sam Peach
Original music by Phil Channell

S1. Ep 5: A Scottish Jewish joke

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. In Jon Ronson’s award winning first series of Things Fell Apart, he explored the origin stories of these culture wars which have divided us so toxically for decades. But now new battle lines have been drawn. Many of them are linked by one extraordinary thing: they all snowballed within days of each other, just weeks into lockdown. And so in Season Two of Things Fell Apart, Jon Ronson uncovers intriguing and wholly unexpected origin stories, but this time of the culture wars that ignited during lockdown, and now dominate society.

Personal Journals

Society & Culture

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

In this bonus episode, Jon Ronson's friend and fellow podcaster Adam Buxton chat about the latest season of Things Fell Apart. They discuss their favourite moments from the show and how to best navigate the culture wars, all while also chatting about lockdown, fatherhood, social anxiety and how a rough time at Cardiff High School made Jon Ronson a better journalist.

S2. How Things Fell Apart, with Jon Ronson and Adam Buxton

How a former actor and model, burned by Hollywood and devastated by the death of his brother, has become an important culture warrior, fueling the flames of every story we tell this season. Written and presented by Jon Ronson
Produced by Sarah Shebbeare
Original music by Phil Channell

S2. Ep 8: Mikki’s Hero’s Journey

How a young man with a novel idea for affordable accommodation,  and an Oxford man with a plan for bus lanes, and a Danish woman writing a thought experiment about car rentals, unwittingly became hate figures for conspiracy theorists. Written and presented by Jon Ronson
Produced by Sarah Shebbeare
Original music by Phil Channell

S2. Ep 7: You’ll Own Nothing and You’ll Be Happy

How a bestselling book about trauma - lockdown’s number one bestseller - helped the culture war over free speech burst out of colleges and into the workplace. A shift some people pejoratively call the Great Awokening.  Written and presented by Jon Ronson
Produced by Sarah Shebbeare
Original music by Phil Channell

S2. Ep 6: A Hierarchy of Trauma

How a schism between a mother and her teenage daughter during lockdown contributed to Governor Ron DeSantis enacting new and far-reaching laws in Florida. Written and presented by Jon Ronson
Produced by Sarah Shebbeare
Original music by Phil Channell

S1. Ep 5: A Scottish Jewish joke

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