Twitter War

I came across a twitter stream shared by a Facebook friend. While waiting during a delayed take-off on Thanksgiving, the author witnessed a woman haranguing the attendants for the delay, citing the importance of her visit to her family and sounding very self-involved. Offending on behalf of the attendants, he retaliates, posting each development that followed on his twitter feed. He starts with ordering her wine, with a note requesting her (sarcastically) to be patient in the wait for her oh-so-important visit, and reminding her that everyone else has places they want to be without acting cruelly. She responds with outrage and indignity, increasingly so as he replies with vulgar language (though not with threats or implied violence). The final entry describes the author waiting after disembarking to give her the name of his twitter account to reveal her public humiliation, before which she slaps him and the authorities intervene on his behalf. 

I was uncertain how to respond to this post when I saw it. 

On one hand, it is very easy to sympathize with the overworked attendants. They certainly don’t deserve that kind of treatment. On the other hand, his behavior was not very mature either, aimed for a goal of retribution and escalation rather than resolution. His posted would be met with supportive or encouraging responses, furthering the apparent righteousness of his actions. There were opinions as as well; he called them ‘apologists’ and voiced displeasure over their protection of the woman. 

It’s an entertaining story. I worry about the tone, however; vengeful and petty rather than positive. Is this the kind of behavior we as a culture support? The comments say ‘yes’. I worry that the scale of the internet can create feedback encouragement for actions that people might not support if asked on the spot. The anonymity of the internet is a powerful emotional buffer. 

Update: Okay, so this ended being a fake story. The author confessed the whole event was a fiction, an example of how not to behave.

The twitter posts: https://storify.com/EliLanger/this-man-is-hilariously-live-tweeting-his-flight-n

His explanation: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/elan-gale-made-epic-note-war-thanksgiving-flight/story?id=21099585