The Twitter mob in too many ways defines the current Internet. The objective of the mob is to stamp out apostasy. We are righteous. We are correct. We conform to the current patterns of behavior–and you’d better too. Ultimately, what the mob enforces is manners. One must always say the right thing. Saying the wrong thing will be punished, often through official channels. The objective of the Twitter mob is not merely to vilify but to ruin the career and public life of the transgressor. Revealing his crimes to the world matters, but what matters more is connecting with his employer, or possible employers, and destroying his prospects in the world.
The Twitter mob assumes that there is an alliance in place between itself and human resource departments, deans’ offices, department chairs, and district supervisors. The idea is to mobilize mob power to conjoin with institutional power. The great triumph is not merely to humiliate this miscreant of that in public. The great triumph is to get him fired. And the more exalted (or “privileged”) his position, the better…
There is no attempt at dialogue. The super-ego does not engage in dialogue or seek understanding. Punishment and intimidation is the name of the game. For every poor soul who is pilloried by the mob and then ruined by the authorities, there are hundreds, maybe thousands, who melt in silence….
Does anyone stand up to the Twitter mob? Does anyone stand up to the Internet super-ego? Sometimes the victim will make a few self-exculpatory noises, but they are useless. Sometimes he will amuse the mob by apologizing. Mostly he keeps silent and hopes the storm will pass But in his secret heart of hearts, what he waits for is someone, and maybe a few someones, to step-up and defend him. Almost inevitably he waits in vain.
Mark Edmundson, The Age of Guilt: The Super-Ego in the Online World, 82-83.