Skepticism and Critical Thinking on the Internet

I believe skepticism and critical thinking are highly valuable traits, but sometimes I worry that most people don’t know what it really means to be skeptical. Too often, they confuse it with something bad.

I Don’t Believe Your Story or Your Biography

I’d like to share with you a story from the information security community on Twitter. It starts with a tweet in which a security analyst (gabsmashh) describes a bad experience with a job interview, underlined with (sensibly) “don’t do this”:

The thread that ensued from this viral tweet is an exhausting read, with a gab posting “it was dealt with appropriately” to a lot of people’s questions. But then something else happened:

A lot of people do this. Some of you are probably wondering exactly what “this” is (and not all of you are JavaScript developers). Let me break it down for you.

1. The first seed that is planted is shock. “Wow, who the hell does something like that?” and/or “This behavior is unbelievably awful.” Valid.
2. Then comes curiosity. “Who did it?” “Where did this happen?” “When?” This led to a lot of well-intentioned replies on Twitter (which, as I said above, makes for an exhausting read). Most people stopped here, whether they got a satisfactory answer or not. The problem is, some didn’t.
3. From curiosity, entitlement often blooms and calls itself “skepticism”. This happens a lot in online discussions, and many people do not know the difference. Skepticism begins in a position of (open-minded) neutrality and patiently seeks higher-quality ignorance. Entitlement dressed as skepticism begins in a position of hostility and impatience and seeks vindication. Entitled people aren’t actually skeptical: they have already decided that you’re wrong and want to hang you with your own words to prove your wrongness.
4. Entitlement’s impatience gives way to anger. Most people don’t know how to manage their anger in a healthy way. This leads to poor judgments. Poor judgment sometimes leads to inflammatory diatribes sent in private messages with silly demands.

Entitlement likes to pretend to be skepticism, and this rears its ugly head in gatekeeping in nerd subcultures (especially directed towards women).

As I’ve written before in my previous article about gatekeeping in online communities, I believe that some small amount is necessary in order for any group to maintain its group identity. The toxicity of gatekeeping comes from the overdose.

If you’re wondering how entitlement-fueled gatekeeping targets women in nerd spaces, here’s an exercise you can carry out in the real world, with your own social connections, and with overwhelming probability you will get an answer that agrees with my claim above. Ask your nerdy female friends and colleagues:

Have you ever expressed interest in some nerdy subject (anime/manga, video game franchises, science fiction/fantasy settings, musicians/bands, etc.) around a group of male nerds, only to have them try to drill your knowledge of minutiae and trivia in order to play “gotcha” and prove that you’re not a “real” fan of whatever?

Chances are, they’ll not only say, “Yes,” but they’ll have plenty of distinct, credible anecdotes to accompany their response. Let me emphasize: Far more examples than your male friends are likely to have, for comparison. (This is to say nothing of the experiences of transgender, non-binary, and intersex people in most nerd circles.)

Your mileage may vary, naturally, but the law of large numbers is on my side here. I’m only speaking generally.

Stop treating people like shit who haven’t treated you or others like shit.

This has been an episode of “Schooled by Soatok” ;P