If Twitter was a real bird, it would be a red-tailed hawk.
This predatory meat monger is a relatively small bird with an ginormous wingspan. It builds its nest in highly populated areas. And if you fuck with its crib, you’re gonna get raked by its massive talons.
While there are analogous ramifications to a statement like that, unless you’re living in a Winnebago somewhere in New Mexico . . you ain’t allowed to say such a thing and mean it. So I’m joking, of course. Even if the metaphorical equivalency is righter than Reagan in the passenger seat of a Buick.
Granted, it’s not just Twitter. You can argue that social media, as a whole, is a legal form of opioid addiction. It possesses many of the same qualities: It feels good, it’s damn near impossible to quit and it gives us a specific high that real life can’t touch.
Twitter just happens to be the problem child of social media. It’s the screaming kid in a Target who just will not shut the fuck up. That’s because Twitter feeds our impulsive natures so damned effectively. And for every bridge it builds, it burns a hundred more. Don’t take my word for it, just follow Trump’s twitter feed.
Roseanne Barr is just the latest dope in an endless sea of ’em to get flushed by the red tailed hawk. Was her tweet racially charged, or just the latest stupid shit to dry hump the public forum from some big mouthed Twitter account?
Imma go with stupid. I don’t think it’s smart to attach a racial component to every single stupid shit thing that someone says. I think doing so only provides cover for the legit racists out there. Barr pressed send on a stupid fucking thought that was in her head when she should’ve taken a pill and a vodka tonic instead. And for every asshole celebrity that says stupid shit, there are tens of millions of scavengers whose impulsive natures will be sated in the ensuing crush mob.
I’m much more disturbed by that crush mob of people, who sit in the convenient darkness tweeting back racial epithets to Barr’s first shot. There is a vicious economy to that kind of mean, the kind that spurs growth. And it makes me wonder how it is that we lost the mythological significance of the technology age to this scatological quagmire.
This wingspan has plundered the public consciousness with a bread and circuses manifesto. We consider it a fascination. We laugh and we shake our heads and we move on. We never mind its poisonous talons. It’s all good.
That’s how social engineering works. It’s a slow creep, an advancement whose principles do not need identification in order to move forward. It feeds on our actions, it simplifies our needs. We need more of the less, as if it’s damn near everything.
So what are we doing here? Where are we going? And how in the hell do we ever get back? Well . . we don’t know. We can’t know. And we don’t get back. Not ever. We ain’t putting the toothpaste back in the tube now, seeing as how it’s just too much fun to have every single thing at the touch of a button. And I don’t know about you, but I’m plenty fine with going down the rabbit hole, for better or worse. Because to blame me or the peeps I keep company with for what social media will morph into some day is to blame my grandfather for the hydrogen bomb.
As for that screaming kid in Target who just will not shut the fuck up, my advice to you is simple. Brace for impact . . and enjoy. You won’t even feel it happening.
Promise.
The disconnect between reality and the anonymity social media provides is astounding. I’d like to think a person would never say half the vile things to someone’s face as is done on social media. perhaps I’m naive but I still hope. Why the latest stupid kerfuffle was even triggered (Ms. Jarrett is in the administration nor hasn’t been in the news of late was so perplexing as to receive scrutiny from Barr) is probably the $64M question. The only plausible and seemingly logical answer was it was racially motivated. And yet, it’s not the first one of its kind by the TV star and likely won’t be the last. You are right about the stupid part. And there’s just no way to legislate around that. With or without the Red-tailed Hawk’s oversight.
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Tails,
Yeah, a friend told me about a couple other instances with her. The thing is, her tweet will spur countless other tweets whose racial components will be crystal clear. Social media connects us in a very unique way, but it also serves to divide us in a most insidious manner.
I just don’t understand why a celebrity would handle his or her Twitter account personally. Hire someone who must vet everything that is sent so there’s no chance of this kind of thing happening.
Sadly, the only Tweeter who can get away with tweeting anything he wants is sitting in the Oval Office . . .
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Precisely. The fish rots from the head.
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Social media is a wonderful thing. Except for when it isn’t.
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Haha well that’s something I’ve never pondered before
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I still have an old Twiiter account but I’m afraid to venture back into it Lol!
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I so agree with you, Marc. Stupid is as stupid does. I think Rosanne is a loud-mouthed trash talker with no brains. Let’s let it go at that. All the rest of the haters need to get a life as well.
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John,
I was going to include you in this post, after having read your wonderful social media post which was a LOT more uplifting and positive than mine. But I didn’t want to waste such great company on this one here. And you deserve better company than Roseanne. Much.
Thank you for the chime Boss!
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You are the best, Marc
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A toast . . .
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A bagel
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Clever man . . .
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😀
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B,
John said exactly what I feel. And yes, if you, as a celebrity – who has way more “voice” than anyone else, whether it should be so or not – cannot control your urges, then by all means hire yourself a spokesperson to ensure your stupid is not shared with the whole world – well the world that is listening. Because frankly, I am not. Yes, I do hear the echoes and ricochets but I sure as shit am not following any of these per se.
And yes, in some forums… social media is great, dontcha think?
Q
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Q,
In some forums, it is fulfilling and wonderful. And so as I said to John, I decided to do a whole ‘nother post on that one, so as not to leave a sour taste in everyone’s mouth. I love what I have gained from social media, and am blessed by the company I keep.
Maybe that’s what I should do? Hire myself out to celebrities. I’d only tweet out positive stuff. It would be the most boring twitter account, BUT everyone would stay employed!
Peace and fires (the right kind)
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Absolutely agree. Some forums are great. And I am glad you did decide to do two separate posts (more for me to read 😉 )
Now you’re talking! It’s about time we focused on the positives out there… I don’t think it would be boring at all, though I imagine the bottom-feeders would feel excluded as they thrive on shit.
Peace and fireside chats
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Well, as the great philosopher Rene Descartes would say . . fuck the bottom feeders.
And yeah . . I thought you might like that. I could have gone with it in this post, but it was going to be over 1,000 words and . . company with Roseanne. Nah.
You are a clever, cheeky monkey. But you know that already . . .
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Damn straight.
Yeah… let us not mix the nasty with the lovely…
So you say… 😉
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Umm . . my goodness that was well played. You’re a chess player, aren’t you? Remind me never to challenge you to a game! Or . . maybe I want to?
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I dunno about chess, don’t have the patience for it, but there are other games I can be quite strategic at.
I think you want to…
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I am also pretty impatient when it comes to chess, haha! I used to play a lot when I was younger but I guess as I get older, I get younger at heart and my fascinations lie with other things.
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Why am I not surprised? Funny how that happens. Younger at heart is definitely a good direction to take. As are taking on new fascinations. THAT is what keeps one young!
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I am plenty fine with Jenga. And Twister. Yanno, high adrenaline board games . . .
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Good to know… Was gonna suggest hide and seek or tag…
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Hey, what about both!
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Now you’re talking!
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Every now and again, I come up with a good idea. 😉
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YOU do, eh?
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But when I do . . . they’re pretty solid.
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Uh huh…
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Yep. The Universe says so. So . . there’s that.
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Can’t fight with the Universe.
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Nevah.
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I find it enlighteningly frightening. I had no idea just how much of an underbelly existed in the U.S. and social media has brought that to light. Terrifying, yet important knowledge to have (once it’s known, something can be done about it, although I’m not sure how one solves the problem of some people are just cruel, mean, stupid, or all of the above).
And if Twitter is the worst, it’s actually the child of the comments section of every website, where this trolling monster was actually born. It learned it from its parents, like most rotten apples that don’t fall far from their trees.
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Tara,
You’re so right about that last point. Fucking A, do those comment sections not have a cesspool effect or what? Me and my friends have this joke about Yahoo articles. The only reason to click on them is for the comment section! Yikes!
While I am admittedly no techie, I am thankful for social media for having opened my world to peeps I never would have met. So this post isn’t about biting the hand that feeds me a bigger circle of friends. This post is about damning the vitriolic side of things. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, and there’s no reason to ignore that fact.
Thank you for the chime!
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Ding!
I swear, fear of those comments sections is one of the reasons I slowly, over time, stopped writing opinion pieces (I used to do so, like, professionally). There’s no way I could keep myself from reading them and I didn’t want to let all that in — my eyes can’t unsee stuff, ya know?
There’s a good and bad to everything, I suppose. I just never knew until social media just how bad the bad could be.
Yes, let’s focus on the positive — it’s a small world after all. Hi, friend I’ve never met, Marco! Hello!
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Tara,
Yeah that’s rough! I liken the vitriolic exchanges to what happens when a person is in their car and they behave irrationally. They find this behavior acceptable only because they are in a ‘bubble’. Of course, as with being inebriated, there is a truth to what everyone does and says, no matter the circumstances.
Here’s to the positive Tara!
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I read a couple of left wing blogs and a right wing blog on a regular basis. The posts are bad enough — one-sided, hypocritical, fact challenged, etc. Butt he comments sections are where you go if you want to see the true vileness that is our social media universe. Where right-wingers say they’re at war with the left and liberals hate America and liberals are twisted and sick, and worse, and none of their compatriots call them out on it … and the same crap fills the comments on the left-wing blogs, and none of their compatriots call them out on it. I have been accused of being an anti-Semitic, socialist, communist, America-hater on the right wing blogs, and a Trump supporter on the left-wing blogs.
And, yes, Twitter is the vacuum that sucks all of this stuff up and then spits it all out in a catastrophic flood of fake news, false narratives, and endless, endless outrage and name-calling.
How do we get it back? You’re right, the toothpaste has left the tube. The standards of a decent society have left the building.
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King,
Leave it to you to give us the straight up on things. And it’s funny how that works, depending on which blog you read, huh? I think these peeps- on both sides- are so intent on screaming out their victory songs that they pay no mind to what’s being said in response. Sad.
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What is sad to me is that there are far more of us than there are of them. The “Us” that want reasoned, rational discussion. The “Us” that recognizes that compromise is how progress is made. As opposed to the “Them” that believe the only progress worth having is where you get everything you want and the other side gets nothing. The “Them” that believes it’s a zero sum game and hate and rage and noise and conflict is better than resolution.
The problem is that “Us” — we’re busy getting through our day, doing our work, making rational comments now and then and then throwing up our hands when the noisemakers drown us out. How do we get it back? When we take back the debate! I just don’t know how we go about doing that. What we believe and what we want is not sexy and doesn’t grab eyeballs so nobody pays us any attention.
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How sad but true this is! We are so far removed from substantive discussion at this point. It’s become a matter of moving the needle for its irreverent qualities, all mutual benefit be damned.
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Love the analogy of the social media to the screaming kid in Target and relating it to the hawk’s attack. Simply well stated … and hi, Marc!
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It’s the Cincinnati Kid!
Things are never the same without you, just thought you should know.
And yes, I was reading up on the red tailed hawk because some people search the dark web . . I do that! lol. And glad you liked the screaming kid in Target analogy. It’s in honor of our Commandante! LOL
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Thanks for the kid words. Bummed at the fact that the Reds won 20 before the Red Sox and your Yankees lost 20.
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You’ll always have 1990. 😉
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That was before the people in their mind-20s were even born!
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Kid today think WAR is everything. I say WAR, what is it good for?
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Memory immediately kicked in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQHUAJTZqF0
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LOVE it!
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PS: That was Pinella’s wire-to-wire team … and the Reds have won 9 World Series games in a row!
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And counting!
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