Fellow Vancouverite and accomplished internet troll Lauren Southern started a hashtag called #TheTriggering. The idea is that every March 9th, everyone tweets out all their non-PC opinions and jokes at the same time under this hashtag in defense of free speech.
#TheTriggering isn’t about being jerks it’s about free speech. Post jokes people are on trial for like #MikeWard or posts banned from FB 🙂
— Lauren Southern (@Lauren_Southern) March 9, 2016
I’m usually not big on participating in the culture war, but what the heck? Might as well have fun with this hashtag while it lasts. I started with the most controversial statement I could think of:
Different groups within the same country get different outcomes largely because they make different choices. #TheTriggering
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
Typing that, I noticed something strange. Even though #TheTriggering was the top trending hashtag, it wouldn’t auto-complete when I typed it. Other people noticed it too.
@GarrettPetersen its called soft censorship #TheTriggering. #twitter hates freespeech
— Eclectic Crafter (@CommonEcelctic) March 9, 2016
It’s strange that a company like Twitter would take a side in the culture war. After all, the harder the culture war rages, the more people flock to Twitter to complain about it.
@GarrettPetersen me too. #TheTriggering is working.
— Eclectic Crafter (@CommonEcelctic) March 9, 2016
Oh well, I just typed in the whole hashtag. Nice try, Twitter! Your disapproval only fuels my desire to spark controversy, which in turn drives more traffic to…Twitter. Wait, was that the plan all along?
Think men and women earn significantly different wages for the same job? You failed to control for confounding factors. #TheTriggering
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
You’d earn more if you had majored in economics. #TheTriggering
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
Recalling that the hashtag is about free speech, I resolved to speak out for researchers who study controversial subjects and face backlash for even daring to ask the “wrong” questions.
It’s possible to research a controversial subject (e.g. race and IQ) without promoting racism, sexism, etc. #TheTriggering
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
Take THAT anti-science left!
Not content to merely participate in the culture war, I figured I’d comment on it on a meta level:
Animus towards the other political tribe has replaced racism as the dominant form of bigotry. #TheTriggering
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
Having reached the point of meta-commentary, I realized I was scraping the bottom of the controversy barrel:
While trying to think of things to tweet for #TheTriggering, I realized that my views aren’t all that inflammatory or controversial.
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
But then I thought of some more controversial things to say:
Legal prostitution protects sex workers and their clients. #TheTriggering
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
I’m (mostly) white. I make my own kimchi. I don’t know if that’s cultural appropriation and I don’t care. #TheTriggering
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
@GarrettPetersen “John Smith deconstructs modern media culture through a post-colonial lens.” [Next to a collage of magazine clippings.]
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
Yeah, take that modern art!
Every electoral reform (campaign finance reform, proportional representation, etc.) protects incumbent politicians. #TheTriggering
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
Economic growth was highest under the classical gold standard. #TheTriggering
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
The greatest privilege of all is being born into a rich country. #TheTriggering
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
Asian Americans have higher incomes than whites, but clearly don’t benefit from discrimination. #TheTriggering
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
If you support drug prohibition but not alcohol prohibition, you’re just motivated by status quo bias. #TheTriggering
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
The anti-immigration right was not spared from my Twitter wrath:
Immigrants don’t “steal jobs.” #TheTriggering
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
This actually generated some pushback:
@DJSPINtel Migrant labour is complimentary with native labour. More migrant dishwashers means more jobs for native waiters.
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
Economists never think about “stealing jobs” or “creating jobs” or “destroying jobs.” Those are political terms. #TheTriggering
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
From there, I moved on to summarizing recent economic research:
Subsidizing college was what made it so expensive! #TheTriggering
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
Some people started objecting to the hashtag campaign by arguing that Twitter, as a private company, has every right to censor whoever it wants on its platform. I agree with their interpretation of property rights, but I still think that Twitter should not exercise its property rights in this way:
Twitter has a right to censor whoever they want. Twitter should not exercise that right to quash political debate. #TheTriggering
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
Lauren’s response was less measured:
All the SJW’s suddenly care about “muh private company rights” please say that next time you’re fired for being female :^) #TheTriggering
— Lauren Southern (@Lauren_Southern) March 9, 2016
I rounded off my rampage with a Mencken quote and a joke about grad school:
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” – H. L. Mencken #TheTriggering
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
By staying in grad school and earning less than the median woman, I’m closing the wage gap! #TheTriggering
— Economics Detective (@GarrettPetersen) March 9, 2016
This reminded me that I am, in fact, in grad school, and I do, in fact, need to grade a stack of undergraduate midterms. End of rampage!