One of the features of Twitter that I like least is that people are often mocked for expressing their ideas.

For example, the other day Neil deGrasse Tyson made a comment about science being true independently of what people believe, inspiring a lot of mockery.

Put aside the impoliteness and hurt feelings that may result; I think there is another problem with it.

Many times there is some implicit appeal to authority: people who have studied this know how foolish this sentiment is.

In the case of Tyson, it was philosophers of science.

But imagine someone watching this who hadn't studied philosophy of science. They might think "What's wrong with what Tyson said?"

Or even if they had an inkling of what might be wrong with it, they might think, "but what precisely is it that everyone has in mind?"

Naturally people are afraid to question it because what is being conveyed is that if you have a thought like this, then you are an idiot.

This is not really a good way of discussing ideas, and anyone who has thought deeply about the issue would do better to explain simply what they think is wrong with what the person said.

They're not helping to convey their knowledge by derisively dismissing the tweet; quite the opposite.

This makes people afraid to discuss and think about a topic rather than teaching and inviting discussion and interest.

I feel like I see this all the time, and it's often directed at specific people who are disliked within certain groups.

Apparently those people always say something that has some shameful fatal flaw.

Or it's directed across political lines.

I think that on average when people's comments are treated as though they are shamefully stupid on here, those comments are not as bad as they are made out to be.

Even if someone says something very misguided, it is better to explain straightforwardly what is wrong with the statement without implying that it was shameful to make the statement to begin with.

I am sure I am also guilty of this on occasion, but I think it is good to try to fight against this tendency.