Thread: Something which really needs addressing is how individual attitudes, particularly but not limited to the left, give cover for the government to attack genuine free speech and human rights. 1/

It's silly little things. Complaining about someone's tweet because you think it is "out of touch" based on your own circumstances, picking apart a joke etc. Let's be honest "tone policing" only helps reinforce the idea that there is an issue, which is then taken advantage of. 2/

Obviously there is a bigger issue at hand here, but you look at how, and who is pushing for it, the government can "justify" its actions and a lot starts with individual behaviours. One person making a sanctimonious comment at the wrong time to the wrong person hurts everyone. 3/

Should it be like that on in a sensible and effective democracy, of course not, but here we are. I'm not saying that your calling out someone's food post or saying they are walking their dog is leading to the end of democracy, but it is emblematic of part of the problem. 4/

Every time we get sucked in. Every single time. Outrage for genuine issues is lost among the white noise created by people being angry about absolutely everything. There are serious abuses taking place and we get distracted by every irrelevant non-issue. 5/

The right want to make out this is a "culture war". Well, much as hate using language of war, if that's the case you need to pick your battles. E.g, don't attack a police force mourning a dead officer for using the thin blue line, when all it does is undermine public support. 6/

Not everything needs to be attacked. You don't have to attack someone else for their tweets, you can just ignore and move on. You don't need to rise to every piece of bait. There are serious things happening. For once could we please try and look at the bigger picture? 7/