The Reverse A-Hole Rule of Social Media

Post from December 15, 2022, filed under Everything Else (feed).

Inspired by already toxic patterns on Twitter, I drafted this months before Mr. Musk took over the platform, prompting everyone many to move to healthier platforms like Mastodon. But, not for the first time, I’m opting to publish this eventually.

If we cancel an a-hole on social media; and for one of many possible reasons we got our facts wrong; then we can guess who’s the a-hole.

There are many disagreeable viewpoints out there. There are probably many disagreeable people out there, too. But leaving aside reasons to listen to whom we disagree with, there’s a point at which our defense against disagreeable viewpoints and people becomes an offense—when it’s us who become disagreeable.

Why? For many reasons. It’s hard to know everything. It’s hard to tell when someone acted out of ignorance or out of intent. It’s hard to be perfect. Therefore, when we ask others to know everything and constantly act to our constant liking, are we the good force we deem ourselves to be? When we punish—cancel—, but erred in our assessment, are we being fair? Or is there a point at which we become worse, than those we judge?

(Yes, “reverse” refers to “rule,” and not “a-hole.” Then, as previously, there are limits and exceptions. For example, if we block someone like Mr. Trump, there are ample data points suggesting we made an excellent call.)

About Me

I’m Jens, and I’m an engineering lead and author. I’ve worked as a technical lead for Google, I’m close to W3C and WHATWG, and I write and review books for O’Reilly. I love trying things, sometimes including philosophy, art, and adventure. Here on meiert.com I share some of my views and experiences.

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