Drawing lines

9/15/26 • 3 min read

In society and on social media, there are a lot of people drawing lines.

I know that I draw some lines…

• I left Twitter because I felt like Elon Musk changed the service to something that didn’t align with my values.
• I got rid of my 37 Signals/Basecamp books after DHH started sharing his view of the world.
• I avoid Hobby Lobby like the plague.
• I refuse to go to the Melting Pot in my city because it’s owned by my state representative who happens to be part of the S.C. Freedom Caucus and has supported problematic legislation.
• I wouldn’t use Substack because I know they platform people with hateful ideologies.
• I think prediction markets are scams.
• I unfollow bullies on social media, even if I agree with them.

Other lines are more difficult to draw…

• Joss Whedon created some of my favorite shows, but turned out to be a jerk. I still watch the shows, but I admittedly enjoy them less.
• I read every book and watched every movie of the Harry Potter series. J.K. Rowling uses her immense wealth to fund transphobic causes. I likely won’t watch the new series.
• I’m a lifelong Cubs fan, but I don’t love the politics of the current owners, the Rickets family. I still cheer on PCA and my Cubbies.
• I’m critical of how data centers harm the environment and I avoid using generative AI for imagery, but I also see legitimate and timesaving uses for AI in my life.
• Chick-Fil-A. It’s tasty. Especially for breakfast. But the late founder’s views don’t align with my views.
• I use Threads, but I dislike Meta. I mostly stay away from Facebook and Instagram.

Sometimes, other people draw lines that include you…

• I live in South Carolina, and I routinely see people hate on my home state for various political reasons. Some criticism is deserved. Some isn’t. But this is home and it’s not as red as you think. Especially not Columbia.
• Some people hate Apple and ridicule their customers. I love my Apple devices, even if I know the company isn’t always on the side of the angels.
• I work in higher ed and am a Ph.D. student. Some people hate universities right now. That’s okay, I used to work in insurance and the hate was much more intense.
• I still shop at Target and Amazon.
• I’m an ELCA Lutheran, which is one of the more liberal Protestant denominations. But as a Christian, I’m often lumped in with ultra conservative denominations who have totally different theology.

Sometimes, people get upset when other folks draw their lines differently. While I advocate for causes I believe in, I don’t get too hung up on where people draw their particular line. Boundaries shift over time. For me, I stay open minded to new viewpoints, and my lines change as new information becomes available. I hope others do the same as well.

Bob Wertz is a type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.

Sanctimonious fanatics on the internet

9/10/26 • 3 min read

When I was in high school in Aiken, South Carolina, in the early 1990s, I was in Walmart flipping through the discount CD bin.¹ For some reason, maybe I was headed to a football game, I was wearing my “Hornet Hecklers” shirt… a bright yellow shirt with green lettering that all the Aiken High students wore in the student section. Randomly, this guy with a long white beard and overalls walked up to me and told me I was going to hell because of my shirt.

“Pride,” he told me, “will damn you to hell. Repent.”

I’ve never forgotten the experience. I never understood why this guy felt it necessary to confront a teenager he didn’t know in public. Theologically, I’m still not sure what about my shirt offended him. I’m sure he thought he was trying to “save my soul,” but he was really just a sanctimonious fanatic who wanted to demonstrate his perceived moral superiority. And teenage me was an easy target.

There are a lot of sanctimonious fanatics on the internet. People who rush to judge. To pile on. To bully. They believe that they can intimidate others into changing. They believe they can win whatever argument of the day they want to start. These keyboard jockeys are no different than the dude with the long beard and the overalls, convinced of their moral superiority and eager to demonstrate it.

This week, a bunch of people attacked author and lettering artist Jessica Hische on Threads because she was hired to do some lettering and logo work for Meta and their Muse AI product. I’ve never met Jessica, but always admired her work and her commitment to the creative community. These people on Threads bragged about canceling subscriptions to her emails. Some people insulted her work. Others claimed that she’d let down the creative community by supporting a company that supports generative AI. (These people never considered that they were using a Meta platform to attack her. Complete hypocrites.) These attackers are bullies. Sanctimonious fanatics. Desperate to demonstrate their perceived superiority. No different than the dude with the beard and the overalls.

There are many more sanctimonious fanatics who pick meaningless fights on the internet to prove their chosen point.² These jerks — convinced of their own superiority — undermine their message by delivering it in such a blunt and angry way. Their personal values are so broken, that they don’t understand the hatefulness of their attacks. At the end of the day, maybe they’ve succeeded in demonizing a random person on the internet. In reality, the only reputation they’ve destroyed is their own.

Bob Wertz is a type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.