imo hurt feelings matter, just less than violence or even unknown and unpopular truths. but being a jerk today can get you ahead thanks to algos and it's making our culture worse. less able to work together to unfuck what the rich have rigged.
you can control reactions to a great degree but there's a reason they all do it. the odds are it will have the intended effect. imo the full Kirk strategy was using upset student reactions to go viral.
