I cry during most conflicts, so I understand the desire for civility in most controversial discourse.

However, I’m not going to pretend like people are bad for getting angry at terrible policies.

The rich and powerful who readily wield civility politics as a shield against criticism are pathetic, but they know what they’re doing. It puts a stop to criticism they don’t like.

If you exploit people or ignore your constituents, the moral failing is not with the people you upset. 

If you’re in a harsh business and you don’t have thick skin, that’s your own fault. You know what you signed up for when you gleefully inherited your family’s money or became an executive or public official.

It’s not like you got hired, elected or appointed by surprise, so don’t act shocked when constituents and journalists alike drag you for your own actions.

If broke stand-up comedians can handle alcoholic heckling, then I’m sure you’ll survive @samantha249245’s mean Tweet about your terrible take or bad bill. It’s literally in the job description.

In this economy, @Samantha249245 probably makes less than $30,000 a year, so I doubt you’re shaking and crying in your BMW. Even if you were, should we feel bad for you?

I feel this way about basically any politician or rich person, regardless of party affiliation, but some recent events have especially brought out this rage.

Last week, some Arkansas politicians said teachers who took the day off to make public comments about their rushed education bill were wasting public money or that they were too mean about it on Twitter.

As an elected official, why does it offend you that people care?

Thanks to journalist Rex Nelson, it also came out last week that Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ administration has barred state officials from talking with news media without permission.

Not only is that “dangerous,” as Nelson argues, but it also reveals a worrying insecurity to have in the business of government.

If you’re so confident you’re making good appointments and writing good policies, then it should be easy to discuss. You should have rebuttals prepared for criticism, as actual competent politicians do.

And, just in principle, in a functioning democracy, you should welcome stakeholders sounding off on policies that affect them.

Even high school debate kids practice this. Sanders ironically has a degree in communication, but it doesn’t matter to these full-grown adults, empowered by lobbyist money and the promise of future political clout.

I can only hope the scapegoating and then playing the victim strategy gets old. These people wouldn’t last a week as a public official in France, that’s for sure. 

Maybe it’s not so nefarious after all, and playing house in the Arkansas Capitol with lobbyists and out-of-state friends is just more profitable than responding to the public.

But at this point, the people calling powerful people bad words on Twitter are doing more for the First Amendment than so-called free speech champions ever will.

All of this is to say, I don’t really care if you call that guy ugly on Twitter. He wouldn’t respond to real criticism, anyway. I’ll tell you it’s probably in poor taste, but so is being a rich, oppressive asshole, so… life is one big balancing game.