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The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

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Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#81

Post by recursive »

tayo42 wrote: post #34
typeofhuman wrote: post #6

I don't engage on Twitter out of fear. I sometimes see posts that I like and want to retweet but I don't because it means I'm endorsing everything the author has ever said or ever will say. It's not worth the risk. People in my demographic face significant exposure to "cancelling" or ambushing for wrongthink. So it's best for me to avoid it entirely.

It's really easy to not be "canceled", just be a good person. What genuinely OK opinion are people being canceled for?

What's "good"? I think it's at least OK to suggest that covid vaccines are generally good, and most people who are eligible should get them. But it's a social media shit-storm. I'm not interested.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#82

Post by mattgreenrocks »

typeofhuman wrote: post #6

I don't engage on Twitter out of fear. I sometimes see posts that I like and want to retweet but I don't because it means I'm endorsing everything the author has ever said or ever will say. It's not worth the risk. People in my demographic face significant exposure to "cancelling" or ambushing for wrongthink. So it's best for me to avoid it entirely.

Twitter is a massively multiplayer video game that is culturally overvalued and entrenched because journalism and other influential fields got sucked in. It is absolutely insane that it is taken so seriously. It's also super weird that everyone is so addicted to this game they play it out in public.

To illustrate this: imagine your ideal day. It could be on vacation, or hanging out at home, anywhere really. The key: imagine you are happy, or at least content. Now, do your imaginings ever have you reading angry tweets by people you hardly know for longer than you'd like?

I'd guess not.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#83

Post by panzagl »

tayo42 wrote: post #58
thinkingemote wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Define "good" and "ok" first. A good person who doesn't use Twitter (someone who might fix cars, or works on a fishing vessel for example) who is having this little discussion about what is "good" and "ok" might very easily use the wrong words and offend someone.

Really? This is easy, don't hurt other people.

You're literally talking down to someone right now- that's not hurting other people?

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#84

Post by typeofhuman »

jquery wrote: post #60
typeofhuman wrote: post #6

I don't engage on Twitter out of fear. I sometimes see posts that I like and want to retweet but I don't because it means I'm endorsing everything the author has ever said or ever will say. It's not worth the risk. People in my demographic face significant exposure to "cancelling" or ambushing for wrongthink. So it's best for me to avoid it entirely.

You’re getting cancelled for your views? Which views are those, exactly?

The point I was making was the risk exists. Consider the scenario: Author says something interesting; I retweet; Author later says something awful which I don't even know about; My retweet is still present and can make me guilty by association.

This is very common on Twitter. It's not a place I can haphazardly navigate. I can't stay up to date on the latest outrage or who has fallen from glory.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#85

Post by themaninthedark »

jquery wrote: post #60
typeofhuman wrote: post #6

I don't engage on Twitter out of fear. I sometimes see posts that I like and want to retweet but I don't because it means I'm endorsing everything the author has ever said or ever will say. It's not worth the risk. People in my demographic face significant exposure to "cancelling" or ambushing for wrongthink. So it's best for me to avoid it entirely.

You’re getting cancelled for your views? Which views are those, exactly?

“If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.” - Cardinal Armand Jean du Plessis

It doesn't matter what their views are. If someone decides they don't like them and that person have enough followers, they will find something.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#86

Post by voakbasda »

tayo42 wrote: post #58
thinkingemote wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Define "good" and "ok" first. A good person who doesn't use Twitter (someone who might fix cars, or works on a fishing vessel for example) who is having this little discussion about what is "good" and "ok" might very easily use the wrong words and offend someone.

Really? This is easy, don't hurt other people.

That’s not possible. People take offense at everything. Or they will tomorrow.

That’s the real problem: the standards of “good” and “decent” shift from time to time. What is fine today may get you canceled tomorrow.

Thus, it is not safe to put your opinions out there in any form that could come back to bite you. If you want to take that risk, fine. But do not pretend that it is safe.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#87

Post by colordrops »

tayo42 wrote: post #34
typeofhuman wrote: post #6

I don't engage on Twitter out of fear. I sometimes see posts that I like and want to retweet but I don't because it means I'm endorsing everything the author has ever said or ever will say. It's not worth the risk. People in my demographic face significant exposure to "cancelling" or ambushing for wrongthink. So it's best for me to avoid it entirely.

It's really easy to not be "canceled", just be a good person. What genuinely OK opinion are people being canceled for?

Got attacked by dozens of people and eventually a twitter account ban for suggesting that free-speech is important and Chappelle's latest special shouldn't be removed from Netflix.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#88

Post by rootusrootus »

CodeMage wrote: post #45
RobertRoberts wrote: post #16

Can someone explain why they would ever put something on Twitter that is not marketing related? (I get it for business, but why for personal use?)

This question needs to be asked more often. It took me quite a while to realize why I'm more engaged on Twitter than I used to be. In my case, it's to have a conversation. Before I moved to the United States, I could have all sorts of conversations with people at work, no matter how controversial or stupid or weird. But in the US, the culture is different. There are things that you can't discuss with your coworkers,…

> the society in the United States suffers from a "disease" of alienating people from each other and isolating them

Is that unique to the US? It feels like something broadly true if I believe what I see in the news and online forums, but in my personal life it does not feel true at all.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#89

Post by recursive »

tayo42 wrote: post #58
thinkingemote wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Define "good" and "ok" first. A good person who doesn't use Twitter (someone who might fix cars, or works on a fishing vessel for example) who is having this little discussion about what is "good" and "ok" might very easily use the wrong words and offend someone.

Really? This is easy, don't hurt other people.

You can't physically hurt people on twitter, as it's all information. So whether or not you hurt someone is (at least partly) dependent on how people react. That can be hard to predict.

Re: The new silent majority: People who don't tweet

#90

Post by cpach »

blowski wrote: post #63
bob1029 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think this is a healthy way to live. There was another conversation thread started about an hour ago that dives into this really well: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30602611 I would reiterate my comment on that thread, verbatim: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30603008

On the contrary, this seems to me a very healthy way to live. Until the last 15 years, very few people had their views expressed beyond a narrow circle. Standing on a public stage and shouting your every thought would have seemed crazy.

Without hesitation I dare say there is prior art in this question. I’m thinking of the Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park.

https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-32703071

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