--- title: "Radical Honesty" description: "Brad Blanton's workshop method for burning off shame by saying what you are hiding, and what you resent, to the person it concerns." canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/so-youve-been-publicly-shamed/radical-honesty/ updated: 2026-11-03 --- # Radical Honesty > Brad Blanton's workshop method for burning off shame by saying what you are hiding, and what you resent, to the person it concerns. Jon Ronson's framework, from So You've Been Publicly Shamed, pp. 93 to 105. Framework 1 of 4 from [So You've Been Publicly Shamed](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/so-youve-been-publicly-shamed/index.md) by Jon Ronson. Category: Life and thinking. ## The steps 1. **Tell the group a secret.** Say something you do not want the others to know. 2. **Take the Hot Seat.** Speak to an empty chair as if the person were in it. 3. **Use an angry voice.** Say 'I resent you for' and let the anger out. 4. **Say it to their face.** Set a time to tell the actual person. 5. **Stay until it fizzles.** Remain with the person until the resentments run out. ## Where it comes from From chapter: 8. The Shame Eradication Workshop, pp. 93–105 Ronson attends Brad Blanton's Radical Honesty workshop in Chicago, where strangers confess secrets, take a Hot Seat and voice resentments loudly. He finds it mostly people yelling, and the course turns on him when he declines the Hot Seat. Alongside this runs his own shame about a failed disguise assignment, and David Buss's finding that murderous fantasies are triggered by humiliation. The workshop is a failure for him but confirms that internalised shame can be agonising. ## The animation 24 seconds, 4:5, no sound. - MP4: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/so-youve-been-publicly-shamed/radical-honesty.mp4 - MP4, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/so-youve-been-publicly-shamed/radical-honesty-dark.mp4 - Still: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/so-youve-been-publicly-shamed/radical-honesty.png - Still, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/so-youve-been-publicly-shamed/radical-honesty-dark.png