0) Golden Rule
Don’t be an asshole.
Be tough on lies, gentle on people. Body counts compound.
Downshift. Say what you’re doing -Price the damage – Then decide.
1) Agency – Own your verbs
Nobody rides shotgun on this deal.
Say it like a grown-up: “I/We chose this.”
Not “things happened.” Not “thoughts and prayers.”
- Name the move before you make it.
2) Authority – No cosplay badges or fake furries
If you can’t carry the ledgers and show your face – you don’t get a badge.
Power needs: law, oversight, liability, sunset. No duty-free halos tiger.
- Show the statute. Name the watchmen. Be accountable. Call your shot.
3) Empathy – There are faces in the floodwaters.
Mercy needs a name. Not a barrage. Not a montage. Not a did-you-see-that-everything-bagel.
One person. One voice. Real stakes in real life.
Share your ideas. Spare the gore. Guide the view and be clear – don’t expect applause.
- Lead with one name, one line of context, one way to help.
- Pair every image with a next action (aid, policy, de-escalation). Concerts are nice.
4) Distance – Close the gap
If you can’t see a face, it’s easier to pull the trigger. Soldier science.
Works with words, too.
Step forward with a name, a place, a relation, and a witness.
If you can’t count the ribs of the person you want to starve, watch your mouth.
- Add Name, Place, Relation, Witness/Source before decisions get made.
- If you wouldn’t say it at arm’s length, don’t shout in on MySpace. See you at Blockbuster.
5) Scripts – Kneed to kill something? Kill the soft-talk.
Euphemism is a posy-pouch for cruelty.
Want a wound with your words? Keep a receipt for every adjective.
- Translate slogans – wound & cost analysis of interpretation. People choose different Bibles; respect that – they might not hear it how you mean it.
- Adjective audit: necessary/minimal/appropriate – writing is re-writing.
- Name the noun: raid, shove, arrest, bruise, fire, debt. Call it what it is to who it serves and who it hurts.
6) Rhetoric – Mind your tongue
There’s no kiss-cam in a riot.
If the likely outcome of your flourish is a body on the floor and your hands still spotless, that isn’t free speech – it’s subcontracted harm. Leave it in draft, Shakespeare.
Make sure your quips are too thoughtful to end up etched on a shell casing.
- Before you publish, write the risk line: what act gets likelier, who pays if you’re wrong.
- If you wrote it to be heard as a threat without saying “threat” – delete it or sign it. What’s new pussycat?
- Mug test: could you read into the face of the person most likely to get hurt and keep your name on it? Or would you rather dance a little sidestep?
7) Blueprints & Receipts – The Four-Line Confessional (Compass Tap)
If you can’t write it, don’t improvise.
BEFORE
- What’s my plan?
- What have I done?
- Who do I expect to harm (how much, how long)?
- Who thrives if I’m right?
- Who pays if I’m wrong (and how do we make them whole)?
- Proof
AFTER
- What occurred.
- Who got hurt, and how we paid the bill.
- Did anyone thrive (gain;glory in the proper ratio).
- Proof
Who asked who out? : We broke the glass to pull the lever; the check’s on us.
8) Exits – Get off quick
Plan your exit. Give anger an off-ramp. Time,Place, Person.
- Step away: “I’m too squirrely – stepping away for five. Right back with a new idea.”
- Return: “Trade: one thing I need and one thing I’ll give.”
Ticket for re-entry
- Who does what, by when, and the risk we accept. {get your hand stamped}
9) Platforms – Virality (look it up) ain’t virtue
Instagram is a pulpit, and the Kardashians elected the Pope.
Algorithms aren’t absolution-you own everything you said until you say otherwise.
Careful your clickbait doesn’t get somebody killed.
Creator rules
- Name the risk. Add friction (delay, reread, cut dog whistles, are you really crying “alone’?).
- One image, one voice, one action link. The AI giraffes are cool though.
- Correction ritual: admit your edits when the comments go awry. Correction can lead to conversation.
Post-it note reminder:
- Blast radius. Shell-casing. Kitchen-table.
10) Pay up, sucka’ – break it, you bought it
If there’s been harm, there’s a bill: aid owed, apology made, roofs to repair, spirits to rebuild.
Receipt to settle
- What broke, Who was hurt, What we owe, When it’s done/by-when, Proof/, Care for moral injury (even the actor).
11) Street cleaning – every day is Tuesday
Vet every rule on yourself and the tribe you speak for.
Reciprocity or nothing, you pimps.
Mop and bucket:
- Mirror test: we go first.
- Swap seats: argue it like your kid (and their kid) is on the receiving end.
- Symmetry: same standard in win or loss. “Nice scales Justice.” “Just had them waxed.”
- Publish the audit: where we enforced, when, proof.
Benediction: When meaning outruns mercy, downshift. Speak plain. Count costs. Choose like a grown-up. Don’t be an asshole. Good luck out there.