If we think of Twitter as a Borg or hive mind, it would have to be described as self-lobotomizing. The 140-character limit and imperfect threading make it difficult to express complex thoughts or have rational discussions. Yet this diseased organism is increasingly harvested for sound bites by journalists.
Writers who express their thoughts well in long form sound like dolts in clipped twitter-speech. Critic Katha Pollitt, discussing who deserved to be on the 10 dollar bill, writes "Hamilton by far the better man," which sounds vaguely Cro-Magnon. (I forget what the rest of the 140 characters said, possibly "me no like Jackson.")
My point, difficult to shoehorn into a single tweet, is that what happens in the hive mind mainly makes sense in the context of the hive mind. To pluck out a single "neuron" often requires grabbing four or five surrounding neurons, and quoting this mess as a series of screenshots is an inelegant and ugly form of writing. Yet so many writers are being forced to do this to stay relevant.
July 2015
twitter moan #307
Twitter has gotten so ugly lately. Seven years ago it was a fun, quirky, relaxed environment where you could trade droll non sequiturs with a small group of internet friends. But that wasn't making anyone any money so it needed to be constantly, incrementally "improved." Now it's jammed with text, autoplay ads, and ceaseless admonitions to grow your followers (what, like houseplants?). Statistics cling to every utterance: your droll non sequitur now has a statistical analysis of the number of "Impressions," "Total engagements," "Detail expands," "Profile clicks," and "Favorites" it has received. This is beyond pathological: no one needs that much information for "me right now" or "all roads lead to your boy." On the sidebar you had "trends" (100% uninteresting); now each trend has a line of descriptive text. Text and numbers grow on other text and numbers, like proliferating fractal barnacles. This doesn't even cover the mass echo chamber effects, where any jejune thought can be amplified through the faving and retweeting of the like-minded.
pedantic reminder about freedom
A local park had a "Freedom & Fireworks Festival" on July 4. Many food trucks were allowed to park on the grass. Near the bandshell a portable LED sign announced in blinking capitals:
BAGS COOLERS SUBJECT TO POLICE SEARCH.
The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution says that:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Missing is the part about cops being able to rifle through your cooler whenever they feel like it. The July 4th event should have been called "Police State & Fireworks Festival." So I celebrated freedom (the part that includes the Fourth Amendment) -- elsewhere.