My last post (about unclarity) performed way better than anything else I’ve ever written. It was also quite negative in tone.

Is this how people get sucked into being so combative online?

Maybe now is a good time to emphasize that I think civility is good, even when one is strenuously objecting to someone else’s ideas. It’s bad when a discourse hits the tipping point and spills over into personal animus and tribal point-scoring.

When I said kudos to Ellie Anderson I meant it: I got to sharpen my own ideas thanks to her thoughtful post, and she made a number of good points that I didn’t comment on because I (boringly) agreed with them.

Speaking of “them”: a number of commenters attacked me for using singular “they” to refer to Judith Butler. This was a “crime against the English language,” a sign that I inhabit a delusional “echo chamber,” a hopelessly obscure way of talking. I disagree! I’m just being civil. Plus the objections to singular “they” are not very convincing to this linguistics major. (Come on: obscure? You literally can’t decipher sentences that refer to Butler as a they?)

In honor of Butler, let me end with a performative: I hereby commit to not writing ragebait. Objections are great; incivility is not.