So... I grew up with social media, kind of--not like my twelve-year old baby sitter has; she literally is younger than the internet--but I was seven when we got a gateway computer and I figured out email before my parents did, so, ya know, I'm not too bad with the whole computers thing.That said, I only recently joined twitter, because it seemed like a great way to interact with the indie author/reader community. It has been... But it has also been a giant mind fuck regarding all the crazy things people say, and all the crazy ways people can misinterpret each other.For example, someone made a comment about how they couldn't believe that a person they met sincerely told them that some peoplelikedbeing slaves... I, sharing this person's disbelief, responded with a sarcastic comment saying, "Yeah, the person who told you that would know, having been a slave themselves, I assume?"Everyone gets that right? Maybe? Maybe not? I guess I don't really know. I thought it was pretty easy to interpret...The person I sent the comment to did not. She proceeded to tell me to stop trolling and then blocked me. And I'm like "Wow! So much aggression over a misunderstanding." But I get it, I guess she thought I was agreeing that some people liked being slaves? I really have no idea. Clearly I don't know how to interpret her response anymore than she knows how to interpret mine.A good friend of mine who is really into astrology said, "Mercury retrograde!" When I told her. Which, I'm pretty sure, means "right now everyone is going to misunderstand everyone."However, I have a feeling the chances of such missunderstandings are much higher on Twitter than they are in real life, or even on the other social media platforms with which I am familiar, namely Facebook and Goodreads. Reason being, on Twitter you have 160 characters to say what you're trying to say. Doesn't leave much room for clarification.So, yeah... Anyone else been massively misinterpreted? I'm just curious about the phenomena. I wonder how many people get totally pissed off over something they think someone said and it never even occurs to them that they might have misunderstood?Then I thought about the political circus going on right now and realized that jumping to conclusions and seeing only the worst possible meaning in what someone has said is extremelyen vogueright now. It's like the hottest thing since sliced bread. The news is full of "let's look at a tiny slice of a statement and then massively judge and berate the person who made it--the further out of context we can take it the better!" Then everyone gets worked up and concerned and the circus continues.Fall of Rome, anyone?Okay, so not directly related to writing, but I probably wouldn't have joined Twitter if not for writing. BTW it would be the ultimate irony if someone took something in this out of context and then got all fired up over it.I wonder if as a species we will ever get back to a place where we're more interested in actually understanding each other than quickly judging and condemning each other. Thoughts?