Thread by @HeatherEHeying

This is a lie. It’s not just the headline that is a lie, though. The lie is far deeper, more sinister, more powerful. This headline was never published. This headline is a forgery, meant to sow hatred and distrust. Meant to further alienate us from one another. 1/11

Here is the actual headline that was published in @amspectator, written by @jackecraver. 2/

Here’s another one. Not only did this never happen, but neither @robbysoave nor @reason ever wrote that it did. 3/

This is the actual headline from @reason. Once again, the truth and the fiction are polar opposites. 4/

Real stories by real people in real outlets are having their very meanings reversed with simple editing. The results are then screenshotted and slipped into people’s timelines. No wonder people are confused. No wonder people are angry. Who the hell are you supposed to trust? 5/

It feels so good to be angry. The white hot blazing indignation, the narrowing of your eyes as you prepare your attack, the tightness in your jaw. Few people are as brazen—or as physically criminal—as the people who attacked @MrAndyNgo on the streets of Portland. 6/

But those feelings of anger, they come, too, as you lift your fingers above the keyboard, prepared to pile on, to accuse, to hurl epithets and accusations. It’s a quick fix, though. Soon you’ll be wanting more. Craving more…just a little more. And so you go looking… 7/

And you find places for your anger. Oh yes. There are so many ways & places to be angry now. Our lives are ever more lacking in real connection—with others, with wild nature. We may not recognize passion or creativity when it strikes. Some of us are scared of it when it does. 8/

And so we hide, angry and alone. Hide behind avatars and anonymity online. Behind black bloc in the streets, like the whitesheeted thugs before. Behind slogans and chants and hatred and fear. We hide, because we are scared to reveal uncertainty, fragility, humanity. 9/

Try this. Try not to be triggered by people who want to get under your skin. Definitely do not be triggered by good intentions voiced clumsily. Do point out egregious lies when you see them. But even then, remember that the person behind them may just be broken, flailing. 10/

Truly nasty people exist, people with whom we should not try to reason, people who will take advantage of us, over & over & over again if we try to engage. But the vast majority of us are not those people. Most of us are human, interacting, looking for meaning and warmth. /end