Don't let social media think for you
The mob is a huge problem with Twitter (and adjacent social media), and the issue with a mob is <i>purely</i> that of its size. It&#x27;s the size that makes the mob, and everyone who has ever considered chiming in to add their voice why so-and-so was bad should stop to think about whether the world <i>really needs</i> that additional voice. Each individual voice may be perfectly <i>right</i>. So-and-so may really have done wrong. But did they really do such wrong that the 10,000th voice is needed?<p>I am ashamed to say I&#x27;ve done it myself, back when I was on Twitter. My feed would start lighting up with some really Bad thing that so-and-so said -- and generally it <i>was</i> &quot;Bad&quot; -- and I&#x27;d add my voice somewhere to that cacophony. Not necessarily writing to the Bad Person, but chiming in on someone&#x27;s long thread.<p>Now I look back and see I was another participant in the mob.<p>Look, the author described in the post absolutely did herself no favors. Her book may have been great, but the way she interacted with people on social media was absolutely not. But being the 10,000th person to tell her that is <i>never</i> necessary. That&#x27;s just wanting to join a mob, because mobs are fun, because you&#x27;re all justified in this act together.<p>Mobs are scary, <i>because</i> everyone thinks they are justified. A good friend of mine grew up in Kenya and recounted that when he was about nine, he saw a mob catch a thief. Joining in with everyone else, he took a wire and whipped the man. Next thing he knew, the crowd had put tires over the alleged thief and set him on fire. He has never forgotten the guilt he felt.