Read on Twitter
I know it's trendy to hate on Twitter, but I gotta say I love it. Most of the problems I encounter here have nothing to do w/ the medium itself but w/ failure of users to respect its limits.
IME, the conflict & fighting that occurs on here often stems from a lack of good faith, curiosity, & a kind of context blindness.
Certainly, the medium of short statements combined w/ ability to RT & divorce statement from context doesn't help alleviate these problems. But I don't think they create them either. That's on us.
E.g. If a tweet comes across my feed from someone I don't know or have limited context for, I probably don't have information to understand the full *meaning* of what they're communicating. I must pause long enough to respect this gap in information.
I might very well disagree w/ them & disagree strongly enough to call them out, but I don't know that for sure until I establish that they do indeed mean what *I* have decided they mean.
When I challenge folks that they may have misread me, they sometimes respond "Well, I only have your words to go on." This is absolutely, entirely incorrect. B/c of limits of Twitter, we're all importing categories into our reading.
But the categories that *we* decide the other person is operating in may NOT be categories that they would affirm in any way. IOW, we can't tell them what their words mean. We must ask what they mean.
The most productive & enlightening conversations that I've had on hear happen when people honor the limits both of Twitter & their own knowledge. When I ask folks what they mean & don't tell them what I've decided they mean.
All that to say, when you encounter a tweet in insolation or one that sets you off in a primal way, take a moment. Pause. Investigate. Get more context. Ask Qs. You might still disagree, but you'll be disagreeing for true reasons & not out of presumption.
Respect the limits of Twitter by recognizing that it gives you limited information. You probably don't have sufficient knowledge & given human nature, you're likely filling that gap w/ your own assumptions.
