Most of us are sometimes surprised by how our words are misinterpreted. It’s more frequent with social media, which foster the illusion that one is having a private conversation and reward exaggeration, intemperance, and that uniquely grating ideal, “passion.”

Millions of users who’d carefully consider what they say when speaking to a live audience or face to face with even a single interlocutor, nevertheless slap together provocative words and pictures casually on social media and are dismayed by the ensuing uproar. Even when tweets and posts don’t explode, they stoke resentment and contempt.