EvVerified account

And that is both the beauty and the problem. People.

That’s just me. I read Twitter a lot (have to put that caveat in there, so there’s not a “Twitter cofounder doesn’t use Twitter anymore” story). But I always preferred to think of it as an information network, rather than a social network. I realize of course that it is both.

Frankly, I rarely tweet anything other than a link, because I don’t enjoy debating with strangers in a public setting. Even polite ones. I can think of fewer activities that are as time-consuming *and* frustrating. Perhaps golf. But at least then you get nature.

Whatever the case, no one would argue that this particular aspect of this system is a force for good.

Perhaps they don’t even have those views and are just trying to be *seen* by someone anywhere because they didn’t get enough validation as children. I don’t know. We all have our dysfunctions.

Perhaps just as many people had those terrible views before but they stayed inside their heads or within their family (to infect the next generation of bigots). Perhaps those views are being exacerbated or even created by access to other assholes via the internet.

I had dinner the other night with a famous person who does (or did) read their replies and who was quite upset at the abuse he’d seen. I felt for him. We’ve enabled people to be nasty in a new and visible way that didn’t exist before.

I probably won’t read the replies so it doesn’t matter that much. But I’ll know they’re there.

Lastly, as I think about hitting the send button on this thread, I’m aware of an irony, which is that coming off in defense of or excusing Twitter around abuse issues is likely to be met with vitriol...on Twitter.