DEFINITION
“Tone Police” is a polemics term used to describe those who interject themselves into conversations or arguments to complain about “tone,” or who easily reject objective facts because they don’t like the subjective tone of those who gave them.
USAGE
Type 1: Two people are having an argument on Facebook, and an individual interjects as a self-appointed cyber hall-monitor, lecturing one or both of them for what they perceive to be a “bad tone.” The problem here is that focusing on tone distracts from the substantive discussion, and perceiving tone is subjective to the individual.
Type 2: A polemicist presents factual information that can be objectively proven, but someone rejects their objective facts based upon their own subjective opinion regarding the tone of the polemicist. This is fallacious, logically, because a perceived negative tone doesn’t negate factual information.
WHY IT’S ANNOYING AND UNNECESSARY
As the Urban Dictionary defines it…
They will discard a true statement simply because they don’t like how it was presented. This attitude is prevalent among emotional midgets, mental midgets, liberals and wimps.
They tend to be intolerant of any statement that isn’t couched with empty platitudes…, while thinking themselves a model of tolerance. They are often also hypocrites.
