While I continually defend Twitter and its potential, blogger Alex argues that Twitter is destroying our society.
Well, Alex, I will give you half a point: Twitter, blogging, and other forms of online media are indeed destroying political discourse.
I am interested in a response he wrote to my blog post, “My Drug Dealer’s on Twitter“, and I’ve been trying to find a constructive way to express my thoughts. In my original post, I wrote:
We are lucky enough to live in a country that, for the most part, allows individuals to innovate and carve their own niches. Instead of complaining about Twitter, Packer himself should think more creatively and ask himself WHY does he feel such pressure?
He characterizes my writing as something “clearly lifted from a GOP speech writer”.
Alex, you just earned yourself half a point.
No one likes to talk about politics in real life because politics, like religion, can be an emotionally-charged subject. Many people are passionate about their political beliefs.
The Internet makes it easy for everyone to share their opinions. Hide behind an avatar and spout your ideologies.
On Twitter, opinions can start to seem like propaganda. Sure, people can “respond” to you, but your information remains static on your Twitter page. Imagine visiting someone’s Twitter page and seeing a consistent stream of tweets tagged #tcot or #coalition.
No one is waving protest signs on the Internet.
Listen, I’m all for free speech and free expression, and I do follow tweets from both sides of the political spectrum. Off the top of my head, I can name at least five leftist tweeters and at least five right-wing tweeters. I’m not trying to call anyone out here – that’s not my point.
Last night, I casually witnessed a great example of how social media ruins political discourse. I replaced the names of the tweeters with aliases because, again, my point is not to make fun of anyone. I’m just trying to illustrate how arguing about politics in 140-character spurts, without face-to-face contact and accountability, is completely ridiculous.
Political Discourse via Twitter: A Fail in One Act
Bluebird: Bayh retiremt is pure politics. Partisan-nature or not, this Congress has been one of the most productive in history, & he knows that.
Cardinal: R u serious? ROFL RT @Bluebird: Bayh retiremt is pure politics… this Congress has been one of the most productive in history…
Bluebird: Ha, thought I might get response to that. Look at bills they’ve passed & the goals they’ve achieved. It’s empirical fact.
Cardinal: if spending more money than any other congress qualifies as successful, well then the Dems in 2009 are the all-time best
Bluebird: If equal pay for women, health insurance for needy children, rescuing a faltering economy, investing in hi-speed rail…
Bluebird: any congress (or group of idiots) can spend countless amounts of money – if they ignore the financial consequences
Bluebird: passing new rules to keep credit card companies in check, expanding financial aid for students, regulating harmful tobacco…
Bluebird: investing in new clean energy technologies, passing environmental protective and restorative measures, saving millions off jobs
Bluebird: NEED I GO ON. If that qualifies as successful, then you’re damn right the Dems in 2009 are the all-time best.
Bluebird: read up, I’m just a college student but I promise I know more about economics, policy and politics than you ever will.
Bluebird: And #thankyouverymuch I just schooled a tea partier.
Cardinal: If you only knew who this is RT @Bluebird @Cardinal …but I promise I know more about economics, policy and politics than you ever will
Honestly, I have no idea what either side was hoping to accomplish.
I like Bluebird’s self-confidence, but I’d really like to see him say these things to Cardinal in real life, especially since I suspect that Cardinal is someone older than Bluebird, someone well known within his/her party.
At the end, Cardinal writes, “If you only knew who this is…”. Sure, Cardinal could be making empty threats, but I have a feeling that Bluebird is being disrespectful and flippant.
From the beginning, Bluebird was simply trying to incite responses to his incendiary tweets. I get the sense that he was going to jump down the throat of the first person that responded to his incendiary rhetoric.
The point is: I can only speculate. Sharing information is one thing – blasting it is another.
Alex, you can adjust the score now.
Further recommended reading: “Right-Wing Flame War!” by Jonathan Dee, for The New York Times (January 10, 2010)
By virtue of his willingness to do and share research, his personal embrace of a hawkish, populist anger and his extraordinary Web savvy, Johnson quickly turned Little Green Footballs (or L.G.F., as it is commonly known) into one of the most popular personal sites on the Web, and himself — the very model of a Los Angeles bohemian — into an avatar of the American right wing. With a daily audience in the hundreds of thousands, the career sideman had moved to the center of the stage. Now it is eight years later, and Johnson, who is 56, sits in the ashes of an epic flame war that has destroyed his relationships with nearly every one of his old right-wing allies.
I agree with you for two reasons – first is the anonymity of the internet. You’re absolutely right on there. There is no way most of these people would carry on like this in person, and certainly not when talking to someone they respect or value their personal relationship with. As much as I will extoll the virtues of Twitter, it does not lend much to the political policy discussion. Whether or not I agree with them, I appreciate a well-written opinion piece that lays out what the writer believes and why they believe the other side is wrong – with some facts to back it up. Unfortunately, most “political discourse” on Twitter is just people yelling at each other.
My second reason is that all of those politicians people anonymously blast on Twitter are real people. Becoming a politician opens yourself up to criticism, but there is a difference between constructive criticism and just spouting incendiary rhetoric with no other purpose than to tear that person down. My dad has been a politician my entire life, at the town and state level in New York. He hasn’t quite made it to Twitter yet, but there is plenty of anonymous sniping going on in the comments on the Southampton Press website. I have never liked hearing that kind of rhetoric directed towards him, therefore I have always steered clear of it in my own life.