There’s so much to be said about Twitter! I used to think it was a breeding ground for ‘celebrity’ excesses or ‘hate mongers’ on the Left or Right. Hardly anyone I knew was on the platform, so I just tended to believe the fearful stories out there. I try never to criticize or judge a thing till I check it out but I wanted to grow my blog and bring my book to a wider audience, so I joined and have learned alot in the last 6 months …..
One thing you have to deal with is the ‘attacks’ that come your way if you support a certain Left or Right viewpoint. Couple months ago I was on Twitter following a thread re: an Antifa protest in Portland. I made a brief favorable comment on what I felt was fairly honest coverage as I’d been following the reporter for awhile, and am concerned about the violence going on in PDX.
Little later I got this personal attack which stated …. ‘his journalism appeals to uneducated people like u who are naive and easily inflamed. I feel bad for you, that you didn’t try harder in school, maybe you’d have better critical faculties … ‘
Well, since this was the first time I’d come across this individual and since ‘he’ didn’t know a thing about me, and thot I was a youth, I felt it was an attack which needed a response. I wasn’t going to cower in fear over a person on the liberal side who doesn’t see the threats on our nation like me.
Anyway, I believe it’s important to be authentic in our comments in public like we are in private. In a comment back I said something like …. ‘maybe you didn’t realize it but what you said was hurtful. I made a comment re: an issue dear to me as my son was murdered in that city a few years ago. I write a blog about the tragedy and other issues like violence as I care about the violence going on.’
I didn’t expect a note back as I thought he was likely an empty-headed youth who was either very angry or not very educated, but to my surprise he got right back and said, ‘I’m sorry bout that if that was the case …. I wish you well ….. ‘ I was glad he wasn’t this die-hard hateful guy, but shared his honest humanity.
But …. I was still curious and checked him out later on. I saw he only followed ’16’ people and had only ‘5’ followers ….. one follower being to my complete surprise, one of the top Dem. Senators in the U. S. (I won’t divulge his name.) I wondered who was behind these comments to me, was this the Senator himself or staffer? The language used was pretty intelligent. I know there’s lot of people using social media to intimidate others, shut down any opposition. Alot of ‘conspiracy’ talk. I know it’s not beneath some in public life to use a phony account, just very eye opening to think this Senator is perhaps instigating or condoning this type of behavior on a public platform. Pres. Trump texts, maybe this Senator tweets incognito? I’m just glad that there was a real person behind that blistering attack on me.
A couple years back a co-worker befriended me, and when there was a change in ownership she turned cold to me. She was rude to me for no reason, and I was stunned at the change. I had my suspicions as I saw her chummy with the new owner.
Long story short, one day my friend called me aside and told me how wrong she was to be rude to me. She explained how she’d been listening to what ‘another person’ was saying about me and after a month or so she said to herself, ‘Hey, Diane isn’t like that! That’s not how she is, this other woman has it wrong about her.’ She just wanted me to know how sorry she was and to forgive her. I told her ‘thanks, it’s a big person who can say that’!
I think everyone has people in their life who don’t like them or who they’re on different sides of the fence politically with. I believe there’s alot of fear re: Twitter cause people think it’s such a ‘hateful’ platform. I know professionals who are afraid to get a Twitter account cause they don’t want the ‘trolls’, the mean, spite filled people but ….. you can’t avoid that at any time in life. On Twitter you follow only who you wish, and you can ‘block’.
I follow certain national political leaders on Twitter and am so very glad for the hard work some do, the way they write books or articles on our national problems. There are ‘kooks’ and ‘hate’ mongers out there but I don’t comment on their threads. I never ‘name call’, pit people against one another …. I don’t want to go back to grade school antics. I want to honor the freedom Marc gave me. But, I won’t sit and take a harsh criticism of me re: something I believe is important. Good, honest people should not just ‘take it’ from ‘trolls’.
Some attackers I imagine are paid, some have these filthy mouths but ….. some are really confused & searching. It pays to stay in the game as a conservative. If you truly know who you are and value your beliefs, nothing will rock your personal boat. If you’re fairly mature you won’t be surprised by the shenanigans.
Twitter will wake you to reality and you won’t have to take out a subscription, pay anything up front or lie.