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Thursday, December 15. 2022Bari Weiss on TwitterI have never used Twitter. Who has time? Maybe it is a hobby for many. From the recent news, Twitter seems important to lots of people. Bari Weiss: Our reporting on Twitter Do our readers like to use Twitter?
Posted by The Barrister
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Me too. I don't understand all the fuss but it's kind of fun to watch.
it is used by the chattering classes to preen, virtue signal and otherwise waste time. At this point I hope that Elon Musk is replaying the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and will offer free tickets on the Mars spaceship to all Twitter users when Earth is about to burn to a cinder from Global Warming Real Soon Now(tm)
Good for big events. Pundit comments or on the scene witnesses. Think Presidential debates, AntiFa riots. The comments below the posts are depressing and usually worth skipping.
I got an account on Twitter back when it was still brand new. After five days, I gave up and never bothered to go back. It was confusing and full of some very strange and bitter people, even then.
I maintain an anonymous "listening" account (I don't post). Useful for grabbing images, memes and the occasional bit of chatter.
If all you have is Twitter, you don't have much and you need to get a life.
Now that we've all done the obligatory reverse-virtue-signalling harrumphs, we can remind ourselves that Twitter was - and remains - a pioneering, valuable counterweight to corporate media hegemony.
It is a way for non-bloggers to tell their stories. Which are often ignored or distorted by institutional reportage. The short format and ability to capture events lets us hear about important news and experiences from "disenfranchised" people who may not be articulate or consider themselves writers. Without being sucked in to cyberspace, judicious use of Twitter let me sample first hand reportage and (often contrarian) opinion on BLM, global warming, vaccination efficacy, Brexit, Afghanistan, EU politics, Canadian politics, etc. Do I have to sift through chaff to get to the tenured professors and authentic locals? Yep - that's the way 'a free press' is supposed to work. Remember? The ability to publish electronically removed bars to free expression - and for conservatives that's A Good Thing. We're the ones who trust people to make up their own minds. Remember? What exactly did you expect the free exchange of ideas to look like - a think tank or a literary circle? I never saw use for Twitter, and only read any tweets that were posted when Trump was messing with the Liberals from other sites.
If all you have is legacy newspapers and magazines, you do not have much and need to get a life.
I find it invaluable to keep up with the musings of the leading lights of our world......
Harry and Meghan so wise David Burge so powerful I have an account to be able to read Twitter, but never post.
I find it extremely useful and interesting, but I use it much like I formerly used blogs. Remain skeptical but open minded, follow links, discover subject matter experts I was formerly unfamiliar with or only occasionally read. Twitter has been the place to go to link and learn about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and access to a wide range of observers and participants. It has led to reading extended writings about geopolitics and the history and culture of the Russian empire and the peoples of their region over time and currently. Science, military, technology, business, music, history, and so much more is represented and linked on Twitter in ways that enable one to survey the subject matter and eventually learn to accept or reject individual writers on these subjects. Best to avoid the click-bait, political snarking, and petty disputes. Like anything else, its value depends on how the user maintains some distance and objectivity. Never seen, smelled or tasted Twitter first hand. Ace of Spaces culls out and runs a lot of funny/cute/poignant animal links to Twitter almost every day, so I guess I've seen it second hand. Never been tempted to go any further.
When fires have raged in my area, Twitter had updates in near real time. Yes you had to ensure the poster was someone local who was reporting and not repeating.
Local news was was entirely focused on the sensational with no helpful details. The websites of local, county and state fire agencies were days behind. And searching Google News using the official name of the fire returned a collection of advertisements for various fire-related services and fire stories from months and years in the past. A recent fire at a nearby refinery has Twitter users providing videos a giant burn off of gas. We could see the sky glowing red from miles away. The official Contra Costa county fire department tells you there's nothing to see or concern yourself about. You get decide who's providing helpful info. https://twitter.com/Niki/status/1601389848484405250?t=Rx6Ock_KtDXSA5hP1ZTJqw&s=01 https://twitter.com/ContraCostaFire/status/1601387527797178370?t=70L3LzWBQRamlDdCLAtvfg&s=01 Twitter is still a long way from the old standards-based, open-acess Internet. It's still a proprietary corporate park, complete with a playground monitor to issue timeouts if someone is unrurly.
I was suspended by Twitter after I referred to those Uvalde cops (heavily armed and armored) who were intimidated by a single shooter as "cowards". I used no improper language.
I may still be banned. Will check in a few. Why should I care that Ms. Weiss has a wife? Or that the pair has a three-month-old baby? Neither makes her a better writer. The article says nothing. Maybe Weiss and her family spent more time as tourists rather than her stated purpose.
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