August 10, 2018:

It's not that my pedantry is elitist. Its emotional origin and contemporary juice arise from very different sources than that.

I grew up being lied to. It was stressful and disorienting, made worse by the realization that the grownups were making bad decisions for me. More, I was expected to repeat certain lies at certain times with certain people. It was terribly unsettling, so that to this day false statements, even if they're merely incorrect rather than dishonest, make me nervous.

My intention is to say, "No no no — hang on — that's not right, because..." But people hear that as, "You stupid fuck, how can you show your face in public if you're sincerely that idiotic."

It's just how it is. People are that way.

So that we're helplessly doomed to miscommunicate.