Good Things Come to Those Who Take

The Internet is 95% people arguing. As a part of that arguing, we try to sus out whether or not they are a good faith actor. Most people, in my opinion, are not. Whether or not they are simply agitated and don't care, or are actively trying to be antagonistic, it doesn't matter. The effect is the same. They engage until it no longer benefits them.

How you want to approach the process of identifying good faith actors is up to you. Comment/reply history, account creation, bios, they're all fair game. I'm just here to reinforce that you don't have to be nice to everyone. Not everyone deserves your attention, despite what civility politics say. Civility politics died out with ARPANet. It's all been downhill from there.

Instead, we need to approach things carefully, defensively. It's more time and energy-intensive, which sucks, but it's more efficient than trying to engage with everyone thoughfully. Whatever way your platform of choice allows you to disengage, please do. Mute, block, detach replies, delete, whatever. It's all a valid option to avoid the death spiral of a reply war.

There are times and places for massive strings of replies. Just not when we're talking about human rights, autonomy, or whether or not someone gets to live.** There's only so many billions of times that conversation can be hashed out before you say "Hey man, the info is out there, I'm not the one to explain this to you."

Finally, I'll acknowledge it's a privilige to disengage. It's not always an option. Some people, by their very existence, are unfortunately the target of intense hate and vitriol. It is for them that we must also choose to engage, to help report, whatever is appropriate. This is not an abdication of the need to help others, it's about doing so smartly. We must look out for each other, but in times of panic we need to remember to put on our own air mask first.

*Super real statistic, you guys just have to believe me, I lost the link or something.

**Trans rights, get your shots, abortion rights are human rights, etc.