twitter

When people decide to go Dumb on the web it really shows. Case in point, this tweet by @CanPanicNow:

I did NOT come to law school to do math
— @CanPanicNow

Is it a dumb take? Maybe, maybe not. We know many lawyers who complain about math. We also know many software developers who complain about math. We’ve heard mathematicians complain about math.

But like Homer Simpson says, it’s funny because it’s true

This started an entire fucken chain of Internet Stupidity™ on the twitter derp corn, but the one that people really took offense with was this reply from @VampWriterGRRL:

@CanPanicNow I went to college and got a degree in Paralegal Technology. Then I was hired by an attorney who specialized in bankruptcies. I recommend setting the attitude aside because, well, it’s immature, and you don’t know where you’ll end up working right out of law school.
— @VampWriterGRRL

My fucken gods you’d have thought she went and personally spit on everyone’s faces. This started an entire weekend of stupidity that just keeps going and going cos some people can’t let it go. It’s a bad take? Dunno, possibly, We’re not able to judge how other people go about their lives, it’s already been hard enough with the pandemic to worry about other people’s lives when your own is already hanging on the balance.

#lawtwitter folk people started dogpiling on her. Whether it’s deserved or not it’s up to the reader to determine. Just go and look at @VampWriterGRRL’s replies to see what people are saying, or not, we’re not the boss of you. Recommend you don’t cos then you’d be reading the comments. We have our own opinions about how she’s bringing work into her own personal life and how her policing of others opinions feels.

In her case, she went on and is still currently defending her position on the matter as of this blargh post. This is where we come in with a few tweets of our own.

@WimminsRea @AKBrews @ResJudiGator @MotiontoLit @AnnaLovesVoting @VampWriterGRRL @subnomnomnom but on that… eh, just let her be. At this point it’s just y’all piling on
— @nullrend

–

The kind of #lawtwitter dogpiling happening right now will probably result in vamp leaving, same as it has happened in the past. I haven’t interacted with @VampWriterGRRL
but I’m sure there will be people who will miss her, just like I miss people driven away over time.
— @nullrend

–

if you don’t like her opinion, that’s fine. Do a tweet or two and leave it at that. Same if you do like her opinion. Y’all in #lawtwitter already devolved into cliques, make your peace with that and let others be.
— @nullrend

There is a missing tweet here, which multiple people advised me to delete, in which we used the word “lynching”, given its racial connotations in the US. Quick reminder of the definition:

Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate. It can also be an extreme form of informal group social control, and it is often conducted with the display of a public spectacle (often in the form of hanging) for maximum intimidation. Instances of lynchings and similar mob violence can be found in every society.

Lynching – Wikipedia

Here’s another definition

lynch [/ lɪntʃ /]
verb (used with object)
1. to put to death, especially by hanging, by mob action and without legal authority:
– In the 19th and 20th centuries, thousands of southern African Americans were lynched by white mobs.
2. to criticize, condemn, etc., in public:
– He’s been unfairly lynched in the media.

lynch – dictionary.com

As someone who regularly listens to international news, this violent group act happens on an almost daily basis:

• Los linchamientos en México, al borde de triplicarse en un año – El Pais
• ‘This Is It. I’m Going To Die’: India’s Minorities Are Targeted In Lynchings – NPR
• Jewish Congress outraged by Poland’s ‘anti-semitic’ Judas lynching ritual
• Aprehenden a dos sospechosos por el linchamiento a indígena en Beni

We used this word to describe the mobbing around @VampWriterGRRL. Was it the wrong word to use, given the racial history of the audience present? Yes, it was. We apologized for it afterwards. But by that point people wanted blood and when that happens the blood lust will not be denied!

And I thought the worst take I was gonna see all night was a tweet about how lawyers shouldn’t make jokes about math (or at all, I guess) but holy shit has that been topped
— @ncurr

To which multiple people started replying. At this point Nick felt the need to actively start QTing my original tweet to others in an effort to… not sure, actually. Have more people get in line for a li’l spanking? Kinky. But that did start a little mob around the tweet to which people actively responding. At the time we felt it particularly ironic we were being taught we were lacking in American historical knowledge by a white man and a white woman.

@wellywiggles @ncurr @Lex_Discipulus @subnomnomnom mmkay, and now you guys are actively trying to get mobbing on me. I did walk it back cos Nick rightfully pointed out it was the wrong word to use given the current context.
— @ncurr

Can’t use a word that accurately describes the feeling which is why “mobbing” came into play. Ever seen mob justice? Not a fun thing to be around. It’s the kind of thing that curdles your insides and leaves a mental scar that takes a long, long time to heal.

@nullrend @wellywiggles @Lex_Discipulus @subnomnomnom I am simply trying to educate you about why you should not have made that comparison, then when called out, stood by it
— @ncurr

A few people told me in private my tweet was stupid and it should be deleted and that that point their advise was followed. Did they also tell me I was being stupid for tweeting a stupid thing? Damn right they did, and right they were. A few of the people who torched me for that tweet are still actively going after others cos they disapprove of their opinions. In our case we just told them to block us so they wouldn’t have to read our nonsense:

@ncurr @Lex_Discipulus @katmcmemes @subnomnomnom @wellywiggles okay, so now I have walked it back and then apologized multiple times, and yet that is not enough because obviously you’re taking this very, very personally. So… my recommendation then is that you should block me, and people of the same opinion as you should do the same.
— @nullrend

A couple of people from back in the land where we were born looked at this entire fucken thing and started LOL’ing at the sheer stupidity of it. American Exceptionalism is a hell of a drug.

Did we say the wrong thing at the wrong time? Yes. Did others also try to actively torch us for it? Yes. Did the chain of dumb continue until maximum dumb was achieved? Also yes. Not even trying to learn something for it except for the reminder to mind my own business come hell or high water. Bunch of people are now taking a Twitter Break because people are still finding something to be Mad Online™ about.

We can’t imagine what’ll happen when they see this blargh post? They’ll probably try to nuke me off the Internet with LOICs like we used to in the olden days.