Seems, madam, nay it is, I know not seems

An interesting, teasing conundrum here. Is it possible to be insulting and ragey in public for hours every day while not actually being as insulting and ragey as that would seem?

Seen on Twitter today: “I’m not nearly as mean as I probably seem on Twitter.”

The tweeter, as you’ll have guessed, is someone who is insulting and ragey on Twitter for hours every day, so much so that that “probably seem” is laughable. Probably? Probably?

Anyway, is that possible? I’m not sure it is. I think if you act “mean” (i.e. sadistic and belligerent) a lot of the time then…well, you are sadistic and belligerent, aren’t you. Acting it is being it. “Seeming” it is being it. Doing it is the same as being it – making a distinction between the two is a kind of self-exculpation that is no doubt cheering to the self-exculpater but not coherent.

If you punch smaller people repeatedly you don’t just “seem” like a bully, you are a bully. If you say mean shit to people all day then you are a person who says mean shit to people – you are as mean as you seem. There is no space between the being and the seeming.

And…if that were not true…if the self-exculpating agent really were not as mean as xir seems…then the agent wouldn’t say mean shit to people all day. You know? Am I making a philosophical error here? The two seem inextricable to me. It’s rather like the old “He doesn’t mean all that, he’s just insecure” trope. Why? How do you know? How do you know he’s insecure rather than a sadist?

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