Why I Stopped Arguing on Twitter
I was going through some of our old articles in order to try and figure out what I wanted to post for Throwback Wednesday, and I noticed something interesting. A lot of our earlier articles go really into detail about arguing. Now listen, I love getting into an online Reddit style throw down. It honestly is extremely validating and satisfying to QRT some idiot and ratio the hell out of them an it makes me happy in a way that should probably be personally embarassing. But, as I was reading through those articles, I realized something interesting. I don't necessarily agree with them. I don't think they're poorly written necessarily, but the idea of arguing with someone on witter just feels different to me now that I've been in the community for three years .
It just seems kinda.. Pointless? Small potatoes? And maybe that's just my bias as someone that happens to have a bit of a larger platform now ut it just seems like there's so much more that you could theoretically be spending the same time and energy on that's more positively going to affect the community, isn't there?
I mean, sure, you could argue with someone online. But what if instead of posting that whole tweet thread to try and own that 14 year old, what if instead you just wrote your own really well thought out post that isn't going to get buried in replies and lose all its algorithmic value? What if you turned it into an article, or some kind of infographic, or some other more valuable way of presenting that kind of information that was more likely to get shared and reached larger audiences? I mean, I'm sure that the energy invested in doing that is nearly the same, and it's going to just be much more interesting.
Because really, what's the goal of arguing with someone on Twitter? Or any other social media platform for that matter. Is the goal to change that person's mind? I'm not going to say that it never happens. It absolutely does sometimes. But if someone is really going to have a conversation with us in good faith, I think they're going to be receptive to regardless of the. And if they do want to talk about things more with an actual zoo, the probably going to be in DM's, or in zoo spaces where they're reaching out. 99% of the time when I make a real difference in someone's opinion it's in private, rather than in a public setting where everyone feels the need to be performative. I've also used the argument (yes I'm arguing with my past self right now) that it's not about the person that you're actually arguing with, it's about the people who are seeing the argument and either getting their own feelings renforced or who are faced with answering the argument themselves. But, I mean really, look at the number of views and the amount of engagment that any given reply in a thread gets. The amount of time and energy you're putting in compared to the amount of eyeballs reading your carefully crafted response just doesn't seem worth it to me when there are so many other ways to get your point across.
Now, there are exceptions, I get that. Sometimes a really good QRT can go mega viral. But, is it often? And when it does happen, is it typically a well thought out response, or is it a banger shit post making fun of the premse of the argument in the first place? I'm not here to yuck anyone's yum. If arguing is something that you really love doing, live your best life. But, if you've ever seen a video of two dogs barking through the bars of a gate that's open just a little bit to the left, it feels a little bit like that's what's happening. It's yapping for the point of yapping, and everyone just gets riled up and feels powerful and smart and nothing changes.
But okay, say you're a psycho, and you REALLY love arguing. And not only that, but you also think you're pretty damn good at it. You're well versed in all the common arguments and points and counterpoints. You feel confident. In that case, why not at least argue with someone that matters, rather than a random person with 6 followers. There are SO many various Youubers, Twitch streamers, content creators in general who's whole thing is either interviewing niche people, or arguing with viewers about things. Instead of wasting your time fighting on social media, why not search for that kind of content. Find someone that accepts requests, or who you think might be interested in talking with a zoophile, and send them a message. See if they might want to chat with you. You can have a much more structured conversation with a ton more nuance, open up the zoo topic to a whole different audience, and maybe even a few people. You're much more likely to find common ground with the audience of a random podcast used to critically examining ideas others might find weird than you are with someone named "@killzoophiles" on social media. It doesn't even need to be a huge channel. A 5 viewer streamer would probably get a decent boost in viewership having such an interesting thing to talk about, you get to get your argumentative rocks off in a more productive way, everyone wins.
I said it before, but I really do love arguing on Twitter. It's like a combat sport, tapping into our most primal aspects as we trying to digitally maul each other. But, I just think it's important to think about *why* you're doing it. If it's just the way that you relax after a long day, and that's all there is to it, then have fun. Go nuts. But, if your goal is really to try and help the community. To change people's minds, and expose more people to the positive arguments of zoosexuality, maybe there are better ways to do it. Whether that's putting time into another project, focusing on making stuff that gets shared around to a bigger audience, or seeking out places to debate where it'll matter more.
Everyone only has so many hours in a day, make sure you're spending yours on what you actually want to be doing.
Article written by Tarro (April 2025)
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