The Lessons Of #BretBug

Shelton Bumgarner

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

Conservative New York Times columnist Bret Stephens became the laughingstock of Twitter recently. Let’s go through the reasons why this happened.

He Is Well Known
One reason why #BretBug took off was he was well known to both thinkers and the common folks of Twitter. So they had a common frame of reference. Add to that they everyone knew his policy views — mostly bad — and that added fuel to the flames.

He Came Off As A Hypocrite
Apparently Stephens is well know for bitching and moaning about the lack of free speech for conservatives on college campuses. For him to turn around and attack someone for a minor slight online is something of a hoot.

He Overreacted.
The person who got in trouble did not come after Stephens directly. He simply made a throw away joke. Stephens had to go way out of his way to find what was said about him. It was a situation that most Twitter users find themselves in and for someone with power to come after a lowly, random Twitter user is a little too much.

There Was Proof
We were able to actually see the letter about the matter from the professor involved. The gave everyone a common document to look at and comment on. Later, to reference when making jokes.

It’s The Lull Of The Year
This is the slowest news week of the year. Add to this that people needed to blow off some steam because of Trump or the Amazon being on fire, or whatever, and this drew people’s attention in a way it might not otherwise.

Author: Shelton Bumgarner

I am the Editor & Publisher of The Trumplandia Report

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