THREAD: ON STEVE BUICK'S TWITTER ANTICS -ANALYSIS OF HIS ATTACK TWEETS
@SteveBuick2, @shandro's Press Secretary, has a habit of hurling unprovoked nasty insults at Albertans, especially academics and doctors, who challenge the government's policies. /1

He has also dabbled in misogyny: https://twitter.com/JenLeeCBC/status/1288622068758728704?s=20 /2

A public servant whose salary is paid by tax dollars should not be doing this. He does not seem to comprehend who his true employer is. Our tax dollars should not support bullies. /3

To expose the extent of the problem and hopefully hold him accountable, we decided to do an analysis of his attack tweets. What follows is AN ANALYSIS OF @SteveBuick2's ATTACK TWEETS FOR JUST THE MONTH OF JULY. /4

Since July 1, he tweeted 31 ad hominem and/or rude attacks. 13 were to women, 11 to men, the rest were to anonymous accounts or organizations. The 13 attacks against women were unprovoked (i.e. out of the blue and not in response to a tweet). 7 men received unprovoked attacks. /5

Men attacked often received a substantive response also, but attacks on women were just plain rude or nasty. In addition to the 31 attacks, his tweets feature a ton of rude remarks (calling folks "silly", "ridiculous" or saying they were wasting his time). /6

11 times he made disparaging remarks that did not engage substance (e.g. calling someone biased without explaining why he disagrees with them). Of the 11 instances where he was just insulting for fun rather than providing information, 7 were directed at women. /7

In 13 attacks (10 of which were against women), he mentioned but did not tag people not even engaged in the conversation. And smeared them without their knowledge, thus not allowing them an opportunity to respond to the smear. /8

Of the 31 attacks, 11 were directed at me and @Lorian_H. To @Lorian_H, he called her an "NDP surrogate", accused her of repeating talking points & using academic freedom poorly, called her biased several times, said her arguments are beneath an adult let alone an academic. /9

He accused me of partisan bias & of repeating false things (thereby discrediting myself), said my arguments are beneath any educated adult let alone a lawyer, called me part of an echo chamber, and accused me of playing "feeble games" that should be beneath me. /10

A public official should not behave this way. As far as I know, a press secretary's job is not to attack citizens, but to help their employer maintain a positive public image. /11

We did this because responding to @SteveBuick2 takes a toll and draws us into a type of discourse we never want to engage in. I'd rather be debating policy points informed by evidence, not trying to respond to or avoid barbs. We call on @shandro to call him to order. /fin