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In the interest of honesty and journalistic transparency, I will admit that I have a Twitter account. No, I will not give it to you. I follow an assortment of various funny internet lefties, most of whom I found through YouTube, plus a smattering of funny apolitical accounts. I have a love-hate relationship with the platform. Since deleting the app from my phone, I've been trimming down my time on Twitter, but somehow, I still gravitate back to my feed at the end of every day. Like how one might unwind by smoking a cigarette or watching trashy reality TV, I retreat into my internet hole every night to reduce my cognitive activity to a warm steady hum. It's dessert for my brain. I know I shouldn't, yet I do. My point is, I understand the impulse to gravitate towards political echo chambers.
It's the same impulse that leads one to click on a compilation of Ben Shapiro dunking on blue-haired feminists at Swarthmore University, or watch a late-night host make stale jokes about Trump being orange — not that those groups are equivalent, of course. I'm not gonna "both sides" feminists and Donald Trump, and hopefully you've caught enough of my political tendencies to understand why. The reason I draw the comparison is that both forms of media thrive on people's desire to watch talented public speakers make a fool out of those you dislike.
Now, I did just point out two examples of unhelpful political discourse that are not from Twitter, so you might be asking, "Isn't this working against your point?" Once again, I want to emphasize that it's not your turn to speak, so please don't interrupt me. Obviously, echo-chamber discourse based around lazy superficial clapbacks can happen everywhere (except, of course, the fine publication in your hands). But I think Twitter is unique among media platforms because of how strongly it encourages and relies on such discourse. The character limit disincentives nuance, and the culture that has formed around the site's mechanics is frustrating and toxic. As fun as it is to see your favorite internet microcelebrity ratio some goon from PragerU, the only purpose of that content is to give you a small hit of dopamine so you continue to keep your eyes glued to the site.
If you'll allow me (not that I need your permission) to make this article even more meandering, I'll concede that maybe a quippy clapback can, in some cases, be useful. Recently, Canadian twitch-streamer and trans activist Keffals (Clara Sorrenti) was catapulted into nuclear-hot Twitter stardom, and used her fame to ratio some pretty big names, including J.K. Rowling, Ben Shapiro, Jair Bolsonaro, and even current head Twit Elon Musk. For the uninitiated, a ratio refers to a reply or quote tweet that gets more likes than the original tweet — the "ratio" of likes is in your favor. For trans youth, a lot of whom have no places to safely express their identity in real life, online communities may be their only haven. So, perhaps seeing a famous trans streamer knock some transphobes down a few pegs makes them feel a little less alone, or gives them hope that things could get better. But, I still believe the vast majority of clap-back content is derivative, uninspired garbage that serves no utility other than filling the echo chamber.
Now let's talk about John Fetterman. In the interest of journalistic integrity and transparency, I will tell you I fully intend to vote for him. I agree with many of his policies, although he's far from ideal. His pro-fracking position doesn't sit well with me, nor does his 2013 shotgun incident, in which he held Chris Miyares, a Black man, at gunpoint on false suspicion of being involved in a shooting. In recent months, he's become somewhat of a Twitter celebrity after many of his anti-Oz tweets went viral.
I am not a fan of this.
Twitter elevates spiteful and reductive commentary because it gives people the emotional satisfaction of seeing their opponent humiliated without deepening your understanding of anything. Nearly all of Fetterman's most viral tweets are superficial dunks on Oz, but fail to engage with the substance of Oz's platform or his fitness for office. There is so much to hate about Oz; I wrote a whole damned article about that if you're curious. And there's definitely an argument to be made that Dr. Oz is a carpetbagger. But, I don't know how many memes about Oz being from New Jersey I can read and still find it to be a fresh take. There is also something quite, how do you say — cringe — about a 53-year-old man posting a TikTok that features an audio mashup of "Glimpse of Us" by Joji and "All-Star" by Smash Mouth. There is absolutely no shot John has heard of either of those artists. Some 17-year-old intern probably found that meme, and the tweet proceeded to get two million views.
Nevertheless, we are stuck with the wasp's nest that is Twitter in the vehicle-careening-off-a-precipice that is our body politic. Social media has become an inalienable facet of our lives now, and I guess I'd rather that Fetterman be good at using it than Oz. Sucks to suck.
"discourse" - Google News
November 08, 2022 at 07:38AM
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Why I hate the Twitter-fication of political discourse - CMU The Tartan Online
"discourse" - Google News
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