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I was looking through some of my earliest tweets circa 2010 and it’s staggering how weird and dated they look. It’s clear I was tweeting inside jokes to a very small group of friends, and I had zero expectation that any of it would be seen by the public, ever
I’m also thinking about the disparity between private, personal values and communal, shared values. I think it’s healthy to have strong principles (eg “don’t be so sensitive”) - but it’s wrong to demand that OTHER people follow those values without explicitly buying into it
So like - on Twitter we have instances where two trusted friends having a personal exchange in public can be, and will be, reused and repurposed elsewhere. I once replied to a friend that I was stuck on a train and local media used that tweet. That was a little bit weird
But it can get so much crazier. Was that guy saying “my culture is not your costume” fully cognizant of the fact that millions of people were going to see it around the world, argue about it, insult him, insult her? I have my doubts
Earlier today I saw someone post a public review on a Facebook page for a Poke bowl, complaining about a name. I joked that if people were fired for getting my name wrong I would single handedly raise unemployment rates in my country. I thought it was funny and harmless
But people started showing up, and started getting insulty. One guy said “these chicks need to calm their tits”, which seemed needlessly sexist. Am I responsible for that? I still wonder. Anyway I think OP deleted her review
This is a long-winded way of saying I am really not okay with dogpiling. I’m also generally against instituting anti-dogpiling measures into platforms, since this can be used to repress and censor dissent. You see this mess we’re in?
I know I have friends who will confidently say “of course you’re not responsible for what other idiots do” - but I think that’s too simple, too easy, too convenient. Not legally responsible, sure - but if a trail of dumpster fires follows my wake, shouldn’t I do something?
3,500 of you showed up on my Twitter feed after that boring dystopia tweetstorm. Many of you are absolutely lovely and I am grateful for your company. Some of you are assholes. This is not cool - especially when you harass and annoy other people on my TL