Elephants in the Stream

The anonymity of the Internet fosters a great deal of boasting. One of my nephews likes the term “e-penis effect” due to the fact that it seems to be a largely (crass pun intended) male phenomenon.

This well-meaning male has occasionally blundered into a bit of controversy on the subject, specific to twitter followers. It seems that even offhand tweets that are abstract, facetious or self-deprecating are taboo if they touch on the forbidden topic of follower counts. The fact that I frequently...