f2PointEight

I have a rule I make very few exceptions for.

Don’t debate on social media.

Ideas matter. But online, what rarely does is the way they are handled. Most exchanges are performances. Positions are staked, identities signalled, and lines drawn. The aim is seldom understanding. It is recognition. Applause. Survival.

Social media rewards vociferousness without value. It trains us to speak from distance, to adopt positions without proximity, and to mistake conviction for cogence. Arguments themselves are not the problem. The problem is that they are rarely entered into for the sake of discovery. What passes for debate is often identity reinforcement with a comment thread attached.

I broke that rule recently.

Continued on Substack. Click here to read the rest…