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I want to address a point that was maybe lost on the big tweet: my point was not that I am immune to propaganda. My point is that we live in a world where extremists, like Nazis and TERFs, lie in very specific ways about people.
So if you see a screencap of someone saying something, unless someone is straight saying the n-word or something:
1) Stop. Go look up the context.
2) If you don't have time for that, don't share it.
1) Stop. Go look up the context.
2) If you don't have time for that, don't share it.
3) Even if you know they did something and it was wrong... think about whether the consequences of spreading what they did are proportionate to what they said. The answer may be "yes." But think.
4) If it wasn't done directly to you and it isn't part of an ongoing pattern of behavior, if you haven't spoken to them privately about it... consider not sharing it.
Because the fact of the matter is, what is appropriate depends on context, and you may not know the context, actually. And also? It is not your business to regulate the behavior of other adults about 90% of the time anyway. Don't let a TERF or Nazi make you the police of jokes.
You don't have to like or associate with people who make jokes you don't like! But that is not the same as cataloguing what they do to yell at them about it.
These are really simple things you can do to avoid being a Nazi or TERF's flying monkey.
These are really simple things you can do to avoid being a Nazi or TERF's flying monkey.
Being lied to is not an excuse to share information uncritically. There is an old saying about how there is no such thing as an innocent mark. You pull people in because THEY wanna get away with something. If you WANT the high of a pile on, there is a Nazi willing to lie to you.
So my advice is to not share anything you did not personally witness in context, and withhold judgment (don't shout down, just withhold judgment pending more evidence) when you hear people talk until multiple people with direct experience talk.
You don't have the right to damage people's work and social life because you got mad at a screenshot and know nothing else. "I was lied to" isn't an excuse. If you jump straight to harming someone, you just wanted to harm someone.
Anyway, that's all.
