Ridiculous Opinions #186
I’m sitting here at my desk this morning, enjoying a lovely breeze with the window open, when I hear a KRAK on the wall. I look out to see three little boys, probably third and fourth grade, throwing rocks at the window.
They were not expecting to see my head pop up in the window, so two of them ran away instantly, while the sociopathic older one pointed in their direction and said, “They did it.”
“I saw you do it,” I said through the open window. “I took your picture.”
“I will be famous,” he said, then he walked away.
Though that sounds cute when written, the truth was that this was a remorseless little turd. Oh, well.
I await their return.
As a techie-guy, I have watched the disintegration of Twitter with fascination over the last few weeks.
I was a heavy-Twitter user and had been for the last ten years or so. I never really understood the appeal of Twitter until I learned that Twitter needs to be constantly cultivated (a subject broached in a previous email). But when I heard that Elon was buying it last spring, I thought, This is the time to quit.
But I didn’t quit. I waited to see what would happen. Was he going to reinstate Trump? Were the trolls and dickheads going to return, en masse, to the platform? Or was it going to turn into a giant ego-microphone for the new CEO? I didn’t know and quite frankly, I didn’t think that he was going to buy it, so I stayed the course. Surely, he’s not that stupid, I thought.
But in October, things changed quickly, and the minute he took over as CEO, I abandoned the website that I frequented several times a day. I’m sometimes pretty decent at disappearing things that run contrary to my moral philosophies. I quit Facebook in 2010 (though I did have a brief run in 2017, which ended after three months). This was a difficult prospect when every middle-aged person I know was still using the platform. But I did it.
Quitting Twitter was depressing, because I had made some genuine friends there over the years and I enjoyed reading the tweets of people whose opinions I respected. But I had to quit.
Why? Well, time has borne out the fact that all of the predictions made above were true. Trump has not come back, but he’s welcome to. The trolls and dickheads have returned in bulk. And just this week, Elon changed the entire algorithm of Twitter so that his tweets would appear in everyone’s timeline, whether you followed him or not!
We tend to brush a lot of things under the carpet nowadays. If it doesn’t affect me, then I don’t care. But just absorb the statement above for a second. He changed the entire algorithm so his tweets would be seen by everyone. That is so messed up.
But it speaks to where we are, post-Covid, the consequences of which are still manifesting themselves in the world. I have said many times that the biggest influence that Covid had on the world was that it managed to surface the true nature of all human beings. No one hides who they are anymore. Their worst impulses are there for all to see, constantly, plainly, and horribly. The fact that Elon could spend 44 billion dollars to champion himself is absolutely insane, but is that what is crazy, or is it more the fact that the whole of society brushes it off as not a big deal?
(I will not go into my probably true conspiracy theory that the financing of the purchase of Twitter was probably made possible by unnamed totalitarian governments around the world. These governments do not like the constant, unedited, free-flow of information that runs contrary to their policies and that Twitter represents. Just know that, when Twitter goes under [and it will], this was always the intended purpose of its purchase).
What is most disappointing to me is the fact that other people still use the service. I guess people hate the fact that they would have to leave so many followers behind by quitting, because there are no alternatives out there. I guess if you build up an audience on a free platform that makes a profit off of your content creation (like Substack, mind you), it can be hard to let that go.
But I have to admit that it bothers me that people still frequent the site. It’s bad. Twitter is bad. Elon is bad. But compromises must be made when one’s ego is involved. It’s a platform that should not be supported when someone like him has free reign to control information.
And of course, it is hypocritical of me to say this. I used Twitter. I used Facebook. I am using Substack right now. Why? It can all be summed up by Cory Doctorow’s recent essay on what he calls Enshittification. Read it here. It’s true and it’s disturbing.
So, yeah, I wish people would quit Twitter. But I wish a lot of things. I wish we wouldn’t glorify billionaires with fragile egos who are surrounded by people who will never tell them “no.” I wish that I didn’t have to see every actor I grew up with slowly modify their faces into stretched-plastic, horrific visages that are but an echo of what they used to be. I wish that, as a teacher, I didn’t have to grow exhausted dealing with the fragile psyches of both colleagues and students on a daily basis.
But most of all, I just wish people would be nice to each other. Because there are consequences to the world we create.
The results of this kind of world manifest themselves in the vision of three little remorseless, sociopathic boys throwing rocks at my window from the street.
We have a long way to go in this world.
Behind the scenes, I have written a graphic novel over the last couple of months. This is part of the Sandstorm Comics project that I signed up for last spring. Last week, I received final approval on the script, so to a certain extent, my work is done (it is not done, of course, but the heavy-lifting is). The publisher has lined up some pretty incredible artists for the project, which is very exciting.
Over the last couple of weeks, designs have trickled in for the book and it’s neat to see characters that I have envisioned in my head come to life. What is even cooler is the fact that, in conversations with my editor and publisher, they have spoken about the characters as if they are living, breathing people; about the decisions they would make, about the mysteries of their pasts, about what they would wear and how they react to things. It’s kind of an amazing process to go through and a lot of fun.
I will be working the Sandstorm booth at the Middle East Film and Comicon here in Abu Dhabi on March 4th, so if you happen to be in the neighborhood, come see me! It should be a hoot.
It will be interesting to see what comes of all of this, and in the end, it could all fall through. (I have been burned many times in the past, so I view all opportunities with a healthy amount of skepticism). On the other hand, we could be headed for exciting times! Or at the very least, a fun comic, written by me!
(Note: I can’t tell you all the details as of yet, but it should be noted that, at various points, I’ve been involved in photo shoots and documentary filming, so something is happening with all of this).
One thing that I will add here to the bottom of the email is a promotional boost for a fellow Substacker. James White writes a weekly newsletter that he calls Weekend Watch, which I think is a great way to figure out what you want to do over a weekend. He usually publishes on Friday and IMHO, he’s never been wrong with his opinions. Check him out and subscribe if you want some good recommendations.
