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Apparently the latest fad for influential opinion leaders such as myself is to lash out at our Twitter critics. A literary reference is de rigueur,¹ and Notes From Underground has already been taken. So here goes:

Call me Devin.² Online tantrum throwers have been around forever, and I don’t think anything has changed recently except that instead of being able to bellyache only in the privacy of your own home where I’m blissfully unaware of it, Twitter allows you to direct your flames and shitposting where I can see them. However, I mute you all regularly and rarely see your cutting remarks, so we’re back to you yelling into the abyss but the abyss not caring.³ I recommend this to everybody.

And that’s about it. You may all pretend that I’ve added 750 words of pseudo-anthropological filler to explain the meaning of it all and fill up a column.

¹This is French for “required by etiquette or current fashion.” Don’t you guys know anything?

²If you don’t get this, you are either ignorant of Great American Novels or Great American Internet Memes. Either way, shame on you.

³This is an erudite allusion to Nietzsche’s quip that “If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you,” which was directed at the shitposters of his day.

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AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

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If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

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