Question: what’s the story with discourse on Twitter lately that goes something like ‘the government/authority must not be criticised while dealing with this crisis’? 1/9

Multiple things can be true at once, even if they appear conflicting. I can think the government is doing a good job responding to the crisis *&* think that their policies in other areas fall short of sufficient. The housing crisis has not gone away. Homelessness abounds. 2/9

I can think that the Taoiseach is a nice guy (I’ve met him socially - he’s a decent bloke) and I can also criticise him for his repeated attacks on the less privileged (Welfare cheats cheat us all, but banking/corporate cheats don’t, etc.) 3/9

Our job as citizens is to hold those in power accountable. We are not out pieces for the government or any politician. That’s all a bit authoritarian. Politicians, I hope, expect us to question and provoke them - I assume that’s part of the job and its appeal. 4/9

Our job is not to shut up and a be a good lap dog. That’s not how progress comes about. 5/9

I’ve never really understood party politics. It’s a weird kind of tribalism and even weirder when perfectly sensible people find themselves defending some of the truly banal and ineffectual policies of this country’s main parties (side note: all of them!) 6/9

It would suit us all better to stop protecting our patch and start protecting our people (side note: all of them!). 7/9

So can we stop policing people on Twitter who question and criticise authority. We live in a democracy. Just because you are okay doesn’t mean that everyone is okay. Have empathy, understanding, compassion and some general cop on. It’s about active citizenship. 8/9

Our elected representatives work for us - that’s the job they applied for. Our job is to question everything. 9/FIN