The Psychology of the Twitter Dunk

A Case Study

Photo by visuals on Unsplash

I had a—shall we say—interesting experience today of being subject to a Twitter “dunk” and I thought it might be interesting to explore the psychology of such a thing.

But first, a little bit of context:

Today, Elon Musk had finally announced a CEO to replace him and the Twittersphere went wild. Conservatives in particular became highly skeptical of Linda Yaccarino’s appointment, accusing her of being a WEF puppet (she’s the Executive Chairwoman of the WEF's Taskforce on Future of Work and their Entertainment and Culture Industry Governors Steering Committee). She was also the Chairman, Advertising and Partnerships, NBCUniversal. Apparently some of those on the left, like VOX, seem to think she’s a half-closeted conservative—and those on the right have been attacking her non-stop for being a woke authoritarian determined to shadowban everyone. Some have stopped paying for Twitter Blue until Elon removes her as CEO or threatened to leave. There’s no shortage of hysterics.

As for me, I’m used to being constantly attacked merely for having written for mainstream media outlets, even though I haven’t ruined anyone’s life with my cultural writing, haven’t promoted an ideology, nor infringed on anyone’s rights. That is to say, I do not know Ms. Yaccarino, but I’d rather give her the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise instead of immediately attacking. Especially so given that taking on the role of CEO at Twitter is something that will be seen as somewhat controversial within the media circles that she’s operated in throughout her career. It’s a risk.

So that leads me to a tweet I had responded to today: