He explicitly said that he sent an emotional and unthinking tweet.
This seems to me like also what you do if you’re in an elaborate game of secretly communicating hate. I think a sensible prior is that more people are emotional and unthinking than playing an elaborate game, but I don’t think his claims about his own intentions are strong evidence here.
Also, while “elaborate game of secretly communicating hate” is a pretty weird and specific hypothesis, I think we’ve also seen evidence from time to time that some people are very much doing it, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable for people to suspect it (e.g. I think of the things Lee Atwater said about switching from being openly racist to covertly racist in US politics).
He explicitly said that he sent an emotional and unthinking tweet.
That seems much more likely than he’s playing an elaborate game of secretly communicating hate.
This seems to me like also what you do if you’re in an elaborate game of secretly communicating hate. I think a sensible prior is that more people are emotional and unthinking than playing an elaborate game, but I don’t think his claims about his own intentions are strong evidence here.
Also, while “elaborate game of secretly communicating hate” is a pretty weird and specific hypothesis, I think we’ve also seen evidence from time to time that some people are very much doing it, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable for people to suspect it (e.g. I think of the things Lee Atwater said about switching from being openly racist to covertly racist in US politics).