This Demi-Paradise

The world’s richest man has taken possession of a global social media platform used by the world’s journalists, scientists, governments, private citizens, businesses, religions, militaries and health/emergency services to share all vital information—It’s going as you might expect

— Luke Zaleski (@ZaleskiLuke) July 6, 2023

I know, I just used this tweet; but bear with me.

It really does seem like everything I wrote about Twitter back in November is coming to fruition. https://t.co/0lNQ4H0bg9

— Nick Espinosa (@NickAEsp) July 6, 2023

When it comes to Twitter, I always said of the platform; “Twitter is where civility goes to die.” I have yet to find anyone who disagrees with that assertion.

As the kids say: “No notes.”  Of course, that’s not all.

It now appears that the platform itself will die as well. Hear me out here. Its impending demise is obviously one part Elon Musk, however, it’s also many other parts that Elon Musk now has a say over. To be clear, Twitter itself could live on for years as a website and app people can visit and use. What will die were the intentions of well-minded people trying to make Twitter into something it could never be; a place for open, honest, intelligent, and rational discussion or debate. If Twitter were a horse, Musk just shot it in the leg with a rather large gun.

A place open to all and limited to 140 characters? How could it not be the reincarnation of the agora in Athens?

The article goes on to argue Twitter coulda been a contender for the resurrection of the New England town hall, complete with civil discourse and “rational discussion.” Except there are reasons that model never worked outside the small villages of “quaint” New England. Small, homogeneous groups (economically, socially, racially) can function optimally as a governing body (somewhat). I’ve seen church meetings of the membership (seldom held more than once a year, for good reason) turn “uncivil” in very short order, so I don’t harbor delusions of “civil discourse and rational discussion.” I’ve also spent too much time in academia, where civil discourse and rational discussion brings out the long knives. All very civilized, of course.

There is no Eden, no demi-paradise, no forum untouched by human ego and emotion. Open, honest, intelligent and rational is someone else’s closed, dishonest, stupid, and irrational. The only real difference is the power differential.  Stewart Rhodes thinks he was railroaded by the “Deep State,” not by a rational legal process and open and honest discussion of the jury. The power of the state alone overrides his paranoia, but it doesn’t changed his mind.

Besides, Twitter was accessible to everyone with an internet connection. Which is to say: people. And people all have a different idea what “open, honest, rational and intelligent” means. And others always think that’s never achieved because they don’t agree on those terms.

Nowt so queer as folk. Always. Everywhere.