One might think Rep. Eric Swalwell—a former presidential candidate and current member of the House’s prestigious Intelligence, Judiciary and Homeland Security committees—had better things to do than engage in petty online battles with social-media critics.
One would be wrong.
On Sunday, the far-left California congressman appeared to gloat after correcting a Twitter user’s common social media typo—a practice that could reveal a “less agreeable” personality, according to scientists.
I’m so proud! #NeverStopLearning pic.twitter.com/uTsedMKG09
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) December 12, 2021
“Your a f***ing communist piece of sh**,” wrote a Swalwell critic by the name of @Steelers6x1969 in what appeared to be a direct message via Twitter.
Swalwell then accepted the message request and replied: “You’re. It’s you’re.”
“Ok then you’re a communist piece of sh**,” the Twitter typist answered.
It all would have been forgotten, but Swalwell was so proud of his debating skills that he later re-posted the entire exchange at the top of his Twitter, and wrote: “I’m so proud! #NeverStopLearning”.
The typo attack by Swalwell, however, seems to be a one of his favorite tactics in going after opponents on Twitter.
“When someone calls you a ‘failed human being’ and makes a typo while doing so,” gloated Swalwell in response to tweet by Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent-turned political commentator.
When someone calls you a “failed human being” and makes a typo while doing so. https://t.co/PHWUN0xPOq
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) January 27, 2019
But don’t count Swalwell as inconsistent.
He even slammed himself for Twitter typos.
“My typo here didn’t help my millennial case. Or…did it?” he Tweeted about a previous post were he failed space words properly.
Correcting typos on social media, often thought of as the lowest form of online criticism, can also point to serious personality disorders, according to a scientific study in 2016.
“Scientists have found that people who constantly get bothered by grammatical errors online have ‘less agreeable’ personalities than those who just let them slide,” said Science Alert, citing a study published in PLOS.
“Perhaps because less agreeable people are less tolerant of deviations from convention,” the researchers added.
Typos, especially in the age of spellcheck and voice dictation, are not a good way of evaluating intelligence, say researchers.
While there’s a great deal of debate about whether social media makes a person smarter or dumber, psychologist agree that it all depends on how we use it to determine what it makes of us.
In Swalwell’s case, the answer seems to be very little.
In fact, some commenters noted that the user (whose own page has since been deleted) was likely a bot or fake account.
I checked his home page to see if was a bot (usually between 10 and 50 followers) and Mr. Happy Friendly Steelers6x1969 has zero (count ‘em) followers. Either a failure as a bot, or such a prick of a human that he may appreciate YOU’RE help and increased visibility.
— Steve Ross (@slross58) December 12, 2021
Others carped pedantically on what they said was the user’s flimsy grasp of communism—despite Swalwell’s know ties to a communist Chinese honeypot spy, which likely created a national security risk.
Steelers6x1969 doesn’t know what communism is.
I assume it’s because rightwing people are not smart
— Brett Somers Fan Club CEO (@UncleArthur3) December 12, 2021
Actually there Steelers6x1969,
“You’re” a fascist.
You have no idea what communism is.
You have been indoctrinated to a cult.
Proof… pic.twitter.com/9MUd1WVUmD— JAB Sr. (@JeffBrownSr1) December 12, 2021
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
