It’s wild that we’ve invented a technology where you can trigger people into a blind rage by typing things like, “America is pretty great,” or “hard work is important for success,” or “space travel is awesome & we should do more of it,” or “men & women are different.”

— jonstokes.(com|eth) (@jonst0kes) May 25, 2022

It really is. It’s because when you say those things, people makes all sorts of baseless and out of context assumptions about who you are and what you believe. If you say, “Biology exists,” people assume you want to exterminate all trans people and are anti-feminist. If you say, “Maybe people should be able to date who they want,” people assume that you approve of rampant sexual harassment and lowering the age of consent to 12. Etc.

We’ve built rickety identities around catchphrases and signifiers that actually signify very little most of the time. It’s a terrible way to get anything done or to achieve any goals. But that’s kind of the point of it, really, right? Easier to make money when you can ramp up the rage and hatred. At least for the next quarter or so.