The first listener writes, I saw a recent tweet from you, Richard, which, while a little oblique,

appeared to be commenting on the recent events at the Oscars. Although the tweet was hard to pass,

my sense was that you have a lot to say on the subject of Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. What's your

hot take on the matter? Well, I was shocked by what Will Smith did, and we all get

emotional when members of our family are insulted, but that is not the way to handle it, frankly.

Will Smith has done himself no favors, and he has deeply damaged the Oscars, ironically on a

night in which he has won the best actor Oscar. Now experts will be wondering whether that

award should be taken back from Will Smith and melted down and used to fashion a crude scimitar

with which the fading actor could be beheaded. One thing is clear, Alex, someone's head has to

roll for this. Now, there is, I think, a political advantage to the left in having no comment on the latest

stupidity, and I suggest non-response as the default. I suggest even being more skeptical of our

high-minded tics linking the stupidity to real issues than of the, you know, OMGs and laugh emojis, because

the former ticks real investment. It's much more of a concession to the spectacle.

And I would go on further. We should apply the rule of restraint to far more serious subject

matters as well. I don't agree with those smart asses who are so

wised up and savvy about social media experts, because frankly the social media experts are

often closer to the mark than the authorities. And we've seen that, for example, during the

COVID first wave. But the urge to comment right away, to have one say this very second, before one even knows a great deal, and before one has passed one's emotions, because frequently it's the emotions that are driving us to respond, is one that I think we should try to resist. So I'm suggesting, as corollary ethical principles, if you like, that we should have a couple of rules. First, no ranting ever. We do not rant on social media. We do not use it for catharsis. We do not post about what a cunt-look Egghurst is. However, understandable the feeling.

Cumulatively, I'm saying such posts are a drain on us and systematically lower

the level of our discourse. So we should resist that. Second, no assertive bombastic remarks

about the things that we have not investigated. Culturally, it's very significant that

it's when we don't know what we're talking about that we become

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