He has the codes, his finger is on the button and he is prepared to go nuclear… on twitter

Ok…I know of a certain high profile person who has a tendency to express himself using Twitter.

It seems that there is a certain dispute between said high-profile person and some media outlets (Update: as of 9/25/17 the expanded list includes: the NFL, the Golden State Warriors and North Korea).

This is not meant to be political or comment on any side’s correctness.  This will sound cliche, but I see a teachable moment here and so as a bystander to this potential dumpster fire, I want to throw in my own little observations for all sides:

1) Do not argue with an idiot.

Seems simple.  This comes from a talented and charismatic educator named Todd Whitaker.  his full quote is:” We never argue with an idiot. The primary reason is because anybody watching will think that there is at least one idiot arguing, and we do not have faith that they can tell which one of us the idiot really is.”

I am not saying who’s the “idiot” and who is not.  Actually, I’m just watching the whole thing unfold so maybe I think everyone is an idiot at this point. Who knows?  You do not have the luxury knowing what we are thinking, do you?   I mean sometimes you can just feel yourself sinking deeper into the mud when you argue with someone.  Pull out before you degrade yourself by responding.

2) Sometimes the greatest display of strength is to not respond.

This is advice I give to my children and I am offering it to all sides involved.  This applies in a physical confrontation as well as a verbal one.  Getting the last word can be such an exhilarating feeling but it is almost never the last word.  I have almost always regretted it when I did not follow my own advice in this case.  Holding back is extremely hard to do especially when you are convinced you are right.

Tell a friend what happened, tell your spouse what you wanted to say to the person, find a way to get it out of your system but in most circumstances, it is not advisable to be led deeper into the conflict.  There are plenty of ways to diffuse the situation without reacting to your antagonist.

You may find that eventually a certain calm and confidence comes in knowing that you do not need somebody else’ agreement to affirm your opinion.

3) Words are powerful and lasting…especially internet words.

For one thing, when we are not looking the person we’re talking about in the eyes we get “twitter muscles”.   We say things we might not say in person.  These things tend to be more explosive, inflammatory and toxic.

For another thing -and I can’t believe we keep forgetting this- the internet is forever.   One unkind word can be so hurtful to a person.   How about a word spoken in front of millions of people?   Even deleted tweets don’t get forgotten.   A site called: Politiwoops allows you to read deleted political tweets ( some of them were only up for 2 or 3 minutes!).

Our main takeaway is that just because you can do something does not mean that you should do it.  This applies to unhealthy eating, foolish spending, staying up too late, foul language, and expressing yourself on Twitter.

Hopefully, we can all go back to our corners, behave, and learn to play nicely with each other.

“Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone”- Allan Watts.