I am an X user..... though reluctantly. Here is the thing that terrifies me more than anything else and possibly why I cannot look away, Musk and his ilk, in cahoots with a variety of right wing populist, authoritarian wannabes are using all of this to change the face of our world and in the process destroy democracy. All of this conspiracy nonsense is being fed to the minions and they/we are consuming it like it is our last meal, in big gulps and barely chewing it up. I am at a loss quite frankly as to what the solution is. Do we look away and hope for the best? Do we stay in the battlefield and continue to fight the good fight, even though we know it is hopeless? Whatever we do - what kind of world are we leaving behind for the next generation? These are the things that keep me up at night and honestly Musk is just a symptom of a much bigger problem.
I'm neither an optimist nor a fatalist — but this is one situation where I do feel like our societal immune system will probably kick in soon. we've had eras of misinformation and paranoia before, and we've managed to grapple with them, even if there's been some pain along the way. But that's not a guarantee. So, yeah, we need to figure out how to get our antibodies operating at 100%.
The problem with Twitter, X, or whatever moniker it chooses in the future, remains the same. Birdsong is lovely, but human beings twittering turns many of them into twits..........
They want to weigh in, say something..........but in truth, they have little to say, and no time to think of something that might be meaningful.
Our loneliness might be part of the problem. Or episodic consciousness is also a handicap. The fact that its been years since we actually read through an entire article doesn't help either.
But the result: That most twitters say nothing substantive.......blame games, outrage, absolute agreement with the non thought voiced by another twit. I'm directed to twitter ocassionally by other feeds.......but can't stay long.
Twitter is boring, repetitive, often without content. Boycotting it would be the most effective strategy. Read a book or watch a documentary instead. Respond to thoughtful articles like this one. Join a political party and start having face to face twitter fests with your neighbours.
There's more fun, challenge and intellectual stimulation in that Twitter is for twits.......and X? Does it not mark the scene of the crime???
I've given up asking journalists to leave, since a young freelancer on Canadaland said it found her work. (Depression-raised parents: finding work is sacred.) Now I just say "so leave then", to journalists who *complain*. [Admonition to JL already administered on Mastodon. Join us!]
The real complaint must go to governments. All three levels still use X for announcements, which is one of the reasons J's can't leave. All 3 levels have been taken over by <rant>communications departments, who are Bad Things that filter and limit communications, even limit language that can be used, literally Orwellian institutions</rant>.
The Communications Departments should be the ones attacked. The journalistic tendency is to go right up to the Minister, whereupon you are filtered by the Communications Department. Ask for an interview about X with the head of the Communications Department. Pick from departments and levels of government at random, but I think a really fun campaign could be lightly organized, to have many journalists and "citizen journalists", all calling governments about "their support for X and why are they helping it", the same news cycle.
Like most people I have friends on either side of the political spectrum who fall for the odd bit of fault logic or conspiracy thinking, I have my crazy uncle moments as well, buts it’s really weird seeing someone get sucked down the rabbit hole of Qanon adjacent crazy.
In the last few months an acquaintance has started to drop some of the cliche wacky comments which boarder on a departure from reality. Not long ago this was a normal person with some small c conservative leanings. now during our brief interactions I don’t even know how to reply because it’s clear I won’t change their mind. This person has not quite crossed the line into bigotry, homophobia or racism where I would typically tell them to F off, but it’s clear where their line of thinking is going and I am not sure they are at fault. much like you don’t blame an addict for being and addict. maybe I am wrong and calling their BS is exactly what needs to happen?
How much damage will be done to society before we develop or regulate (I see the flaws) socially responsible social media? I quit most social media because it was just waisting too much of my time and often just making me angry, sad and anxious.
*yes I recognize that Substack is social media, but it is much easier to control the content you consume on this platform, for now. I find it ironic that as soon as the exodus from twitter started last year, Substack added twitter like features. but i digress.
I am an X user..... though reluctantly. Here is the thing that terrifies me more than anything else and possibly why I cannot look away, Musk and his ilk, in cahoots with a variety of right wing populist, authoritarian wannabes are using all of this to change the face of our world and in the process destroy democracy. All of this conspiracy nonsense is being fed to the minions and they/we are consuming it like it is our last meal, in big gulps and barely chewing it up. I am at a loss quite frankly as to what the solution is. Do we look away and hope for the best? Do we stay in the battlefield and continue to fight the good fight, even though we know it is hopeless? Whatever we do - what kind of world are we leaving behind for the next generation? These are the things that keep me up at night and honestly Musk is just a symptom of a much bigger problem.
I'm neither an optimist nor a fatalist — but this is one situation where I do feel like our societal immune system will probably kick in soon. we've had eras of misinformation and paranoia before, and we've managed to grapple with them, even if there's been some pain along the way. But that's not a guarantee. So, yeah, we need to figure out how to get our antibodies operating at 100%.
The problem with Twitter, X, or whatever moniker it chooses in the future, remains the same. Birdsong is lovely, but human beings twittering turns many of them into twits..........
They want to weigh in, say something..........but in truth, they have little to say, and no time to think of something that might be meaningful.
Our loneliness might be part of the problem. Or episodic consciousness is also a handicap. The fact that its been years since we actually read through an entire article doesn't help either.
But the result: That most twitters say nothing substantive.......blame games, outrage, absolute agreement with the non thought voiced by another twit. I'm directed to twitter ocassionally by other feeds.......but can't stay long.
Twitter is boring, repetitive, often without content. Boycotting it would be the most effective strategy. Read a book or watch a documentary instead. Respond to thoughtful articles like this one. Join a political party and start having face to face twitter fests with your neighbours.
There's more fun, challenge and intellectual stimulation in that Twitter is for twits.......and X? Does it not mark the scene of the crime???
I've given up asking journalists to leave, since a young freelancer on Canadaland said it found her work. (Depression-raised parents: finding work is sacred.) Now I just say "so leave then", to journalists who *complain*. [Admonition to JL already administered on Mastodon. Join us!]
The real complaint must go to governments. All three levels still use X for announcements, which is one of the reasons J's can't leave. All 3 levels have been taken over by <rant>communications departments, who are Bad Things that filter and limit communications, even limit language that can be used, literally Orwellian institutions</rant>.
The Communications Departments should be the ones attacked. The journalistic tendency is to go right up to the Minister, whereupon you are filtered by the Communications Department. Ask for an interview about X with the head of the Communications Department. Pick from departments and levels of government at random, but I think a really fun campaign could be lightly organized, to have many journalists and "citizen journalists", all calling governments about "their support for X and why are they helping it", the same news cycle.
Like most people I have friends on either side of the political spectrum who fall for the odd bit of fault logic or conspiracy thinking, I have my crazy uncle moments as well, buts it’s really weird seeing someone get sucked down the rabbit hole of Qanon adjacent crazy.
In the last few months an acquaintance has started to drop some of the cliche wacky comments which boarder on a departure from reality. Not long ago this was a normal person with some small c conservative leanings. now during our brief interactions I don’t even know how to reply because it’s clear I won’t change their mind. This person has not quite crossed the line into bigotry, homophobia or racism where I would typically tell them to F off, but it’s clear where their line of thinking is going and I am not sure they are at fault. much like you don’t blame an addict for being and addict. maybe I am wrong and calling their BS is exactly what needs to happen?
How much damage will be done to society before we develop or regulate (I see the flaws) socially responsible social media? I quit most social media because it was just waisting too much of my time and often just making me angry, sad and anxious.
*yes I recognize that Substack is social media, but it is much easier to control the content you consume on this platform, for now. I find it ironic that as soon as the exodus from twitter started last year, Substack added twitter like features. but i digress.
Pretty sure Musk had Sorkin confused with Jonathan Swan, not Greenblatt. At least that's what came to mind when I saw the clip floating around.