280 characters: Still idiotic
I’ve never liked Twitter. I intentionally ignored it during its first decade of existence. Since the idea of censoring yourself down to 140 characters was idiotic, Twitter eventually assumed that 280 characters would only be half-idiotic. Yet in 2022, idiocy seems more and more to be the aim of the platform. A thinking person might begin to question the whole idea of it again. Did we really need another social dumping ground that rewires brains away from having the attention span needed to read books? Especially one that specializes in providing the illusion of understanding complex issues?
I finally opened an account in 2019, mostly to further research how the warped mind of a MAGAt responds to events or facts. Twitter provided insight, but then so do other platforms. Sure, occasionally you will stumble upon useful thoughts or scraps of data from the minority of Twitter users who have a brain. But the time I spent countertrolling was not worth the price of admission. The new owner of the platform has a brain, but he also has the humor and emotional maturity of a 12-year-old. He is not fit to run it, and this will become clear within the first year. Elon will ensure that Twitter is simply an endless obstacle course — a barrier between the user and objective truth. Twitter is now diametrically opposed to actual journalism.
What is Twitter today?
Only a fool would attempt engaging in a good-faith conversation with a stranger on Twitter. The only legit use now for Elon’s network is shitposting. Twitter is the new Truth Social, another trash heap of self-indulgence for the man who owns it. Yet unlike Trump’s failing, pathetic excuse for a social network, Twitter features a significant portion of users who appear to be genuinely addicted to Twitter. While Mr. Trump commands a genuine cult, Mr. Musk now owns users who find the little blue bird hardly less addictive than oxycodone.
And this is who will remain on Twitter when reasonable people keep fleeing. Elon will have his simps (tens of millions of them, in fact), he will have the Twitter addicts who dislike him or are indifferent to him (but who fear life without Twitter), and he will have an influx of returning shitposters and trolls who were banned by the mean old moderators. In sum, Twitter will seem fecal to anyone who isn’t a Musksimp, an addict, or an asshole. If you find it cathartic to log in and unload on those types, then perhaps you also have a reason to be on Twitter. But usually, the website produces the opposite of relief to any decent member of Homo sapiens.
The fake green messiah now owns a propaganda machine
Maybe if Elon didn’t go out of his way to be a dick, he’d be given the benefit of the doubt. But already he tweets fake news as the new owner — because he can. Some liberals apparently still need to disabuse themselves of their romantic notions about Musk. You think he cares about Earth or humanity? He saw an opening for EVs so took it. Elon cares about Elon. Musk wants growth for the sake of growth (which coincidentally is the ideology of a cancer cell), betraying his fundamental incompatibility with sustainability. The more we trash Earth, the more reason he has to “occupy Mars”.
A fundamental danger with the billionaire’s new toy is that millions of his simps see him as an expert. It’s freakishly rare for an individual to be an expert in more than a couple of disciplines, and this non-transferability of expertise from one field to another is no different for him. Despite his having probably not read more than one book on Russia or Ukraine, millions of simps believe Elon can offer a solution to Putin’s barbaric war upon Ukrainians. Despite earning no degree related to understanding carrying capacity, he tells us that the world is underpopulated. The nerve of this clown thinking he knows better than people who have dedicated decades of their lives studying such matters; just another insanely narcissistic billionaire.
Starlink, fine. Diplomat? Hell no.
Twitter reborn as the new Truth Social
As we learned to do with Trump, we now must do with Elon: experience him with crestfallen derision. We will continue to mourn the death of truth, of basic human decency, and of informed, intelligent debate. But as consolation, we will gleefully watch his own private hell unfold. A much different hell than Trump’s endless expedition into the depths of mental illness, but a hell nonetheless. Other than the millions who get down on their knees in front of Elon, who doesn’t want to see an uber-elite cryptotech bro get put in his place by the universe?
So: hello Elon, goodbye Twitter. When I delete my account (as soon as this miserable midterm election concludes), there will be no looking back. Anyone who makes a comment worth reading on Twitter has done longform elsewhere, which is undoubtedly a thousand times better than anything they say in 280 characters or less. If you think there’s an “art” to issuing your thoughts within an arbitrary limit set by tech bros, you’re part of the reason Twitter sucks. And to all the trolls (whether you’re a billionaire or broke), I’m canceling your dumb-as-shit tweets out of my consciousness.
— Victor
Also see: How to Delete Your Twitter Account If Elon Musk Was Your Last Straw