It might seem like a silly online feud, but the war of words between two political influencers highlights the kind of sickness in society that masks won’t protect us from.
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I don’t know Taylor Lorenz and Nate Silver. I have no particular opinion on either one of them apart from respecting Silver as an excellent poker player. To me, they are just a couple of influencers who are making a (presumably decent) living from getting people to engage with them online.
As such, they are both probably pleased to be involved in a spat with each other because it will likely get their current supporters riled up and earn them a few new followers.
This feud, which has apparently been going on for a while, is a microcosm of so much what’s wrong with social media.
The latest iteration of their fight began when Lorenz, who seems to be a bit of a lightning rod for conservatives because of her position on COVID-19, responded to somebody posting an image of her without a mask.
I suppose the assertion is that individuals who advocate in favor of people taking precautions that protect them and others from contracting a potentially deadly illness have to mask up 24/7.
In any case, Lorenz reacted with indignation.
“I love when ppl find photos where my mask is off for 5 seconds outside for a photo at my book party where every single attendee had to PCR test, as some kind of gotcha,” she wrote on BlueSky. “Like yeah, high risk ppl could safely remove their masks for photos now and then if every event/public space had those precautions!”
Seems reasonable enough.
She followed that up with a second post that not only got Silver’s attention but also that of the New York Post, a right-wing mouthpiece.
“Planning a Covid safe book launch took months and THOUSANDS of my own dollars ensuring testing, outdoor space, far UV lights, and a litany of other precautions,” she wrote. “Meanwhile u dumbfucks are out raw dogging the air and spewing ur disease laden breath all over ur elderly neighbors. We are not the same.”
Finally, Lorenz revealed that, in addition to being quite the wordsmith, she is also immunocompromised, which can make a bout with COVID-19 lethal.
As someone with a terminal heart condition, I can certainly empathize with that.
Silver, who holds very different views on the science of COVID-19, apparently cannot.
“I was like, how can this possibly be real, but it is?!?!? The world is full of wonders,” he wrote on X while screenshotting Lorenz’s post. “Human beings demonstrate an astounding amount of moral and genetic diversity. We never know what awaits us next.”
That, in turn, caused Lorenz to fire off some angry posts at Silver.
Here is my problem with all of this (and I am sorry it took so long to get to the point, but context matters): This latest spat of theirs could be resolved with an email or a phone call.
They are both in the same business of posting opinions and stirring up controversies, so it can’t be that difficult to get in touch with each other.
“Hey Nate, it’s Taylor. Just letting you know that I am very cautious about not contracting COVID or other illnesses because I suffer from an underlying condition that could make them lethal.”
“Oh, wow. I had no idea, Taylor. That sucks! All the best, Nate.”
Feud resolved!
And then they can argue to their hearts’ content about the science of COVID-19 and which precautions are useful and reasonable.
Sadly, that’s no longer how we interact with each other (or what we use the internet for).
For all of the influencers who determine what people read online, as well as the social media platforms that dictate what kind of content gets engagement, it’s better to be confrontational than informative.
While Lorenz may have been “right” in this case, she immediately dialed the outrage to 10, which simply invites angry responses.
That was either the point, or people don’t even notice anymore that this is what they are doing.
For both of them, it is more beneficial to keep this “controversy” going.
After all, they are not gangsta rappers and don’t have to worry about getting popped.
At most, they’ll just get yelled at online by the supporters of their “adversaries,” and that’s good for business (if you happen to be in the outrage business).
It’s not just them, of course.
As we have pointed out, many politicians are now merely performance artists, and the best thing that could happen to any of them is being involved in any kind of controversy.
Just ask Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), for whom Christmas came early this year when she got to be the center of attention for a few days after loudly complaining that newly elected transgender Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE) should not be allowed to use the women’s bathrooms on Capitol Hill.
None of these might seem like big things, but they are symptoms of a division in society, and a way in which we engage with one another that is incredibly harmful.
We are facing a lot of complex problems, and they will not get solved by everybody yelling at each other in order to get more social media followers.
In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
