Keith Olbermann tells Letterman the Golden Rule of Twitter he learned the hard way

Keith Olbermann has finally figured out Twitter — (Image credit: Late Show)

ESPN recently kicked Keith Olbermann off the air for a week — not a huge surprise to anyone who's followed Olbermann's career — but this time "I said 'thank you,'" Olbermann told David Letterman on Tuesday night's Late Show. He had retweeted a link to a story about pediatric cancer research with a snarky comment, he said, assuming the original tweet was an attack against him.

To understand why Olbermann did this, and why he thinks Twitter is "the first true sign that society is disintegrating," you have to understand how he views the microblogging service: "On Twitter, you don't think of anybody else as an actual human being, just as somebody you have to bury — or they're going to bury you. You subtract yourself from the human race, and just start going after people." In other words, he was an accident waiting to happen. But Olbermann has advice for fellow Twitter pugilists: "Don't read any tweet that has your own name in it." Not only will that keep you out of Twitter wars, "you will suddenly have an extra hour and a half to three hours a day." Or, just quit Twitter. —Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.