Monsters of 2021: Dudes who want nothing more than to be right online

[Nevilledog]

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Mother Jones
@MotherJones
Low-key confused that people who aren't zoomers can be good at the internet but props to @jrrosenb's dad, who is very funny

Monsters of 2021: Dudes who want nothing more than to be right online
They don't care about the actual issue—they care about being *seen* caring about the issue.
motherjones.com
2:39 PM · Dec 29, 2021

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/12/monsters-dudes-who-want-nothing-more-than-to-be-right-online/


In 2021, I went from mildly bemused to fully annoyed by a scourge my Dad has often talked about: Dudes Who Are Right on the internet.

If you’re not as extremely online as my family, here’s a brief primer: There’s a collection of (mostly) men on Twitter who spend an inordinate amount of time attempting to prove (to God? to their followers? to themselves? to their high school bullies?) that they are right about…everything.

For the past two years, my father—an early Twitter adopter—has warned me about this reality. He has gone from an eager reply guy to basically being celibate on attempts to be “correct” on the internet. He has cast aside the “clever take” and gone near cold turkey on having an “interesting way of viewing it.” He doesn’t dunk, quote-tweet, or thread. It’s just too annoying now, he says. A Dude Who Is Right could pop up and ruin your day.

To be clear, this isn’t a cancel culture jeremiad. My Dad is not “anti-correct” in terms of anti-politically correct, or even in terms of truth. (In fact, a lot of the stuff that annoys him is factually accurate.) Instead, he is a pretty online person who has grown completely disillusioned with a way of posting that bolsters confidence instead of curiosity. Lately, he’s turned to mainly reading books about science from the library.

*snip*

[chowder66]

1. I know them as Right-Fighters.

They are the type that rarely, if ever, apologize.