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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

#491

Post by swayvil »

vorpalhex wrote: post #146
toastercat wrote: post #71

I tried being a Twitter user for a bit last year, mostly because a lot of engineers I admire use it to communicate about interesting topics and also their work. But after a while, I realized even they will pollute my feed with politically divisive topics, whether it be from them retweeting something, or liking a tweet, or even entering into the fray themselves -- Twitter will find a way to get me to see it. For a whi…

One of my pet theories for why social media is such a cesspool is that it exposes us to the whole of someone else. If I play boardgames with Sue, that's enough. We meet, enjoy a beer and play some Catan and go our separate ways. That's a fine relationship. If I follow Sue on social media, now I know her politics, religion, sex life, drug usage, opinions on every little thing.. and frankly, I don't care or want to. I'…

I have a similar theory. That, in social media, we touch a different part of a person, than, say, irl.

I think that when we read, or we're on the computer, we are in a kind of trance. Our unconscious self is exposed.

It expresses itself, we all harbor a lot of dark feelings. And we are reactive. It's not a rational self. It's a self that gropes for the good stuff and kicks against the bad stuff and that's about it. Like an animal.

It is also exposed and vulnerable. So when the flame hits we feel it deeply.

I imagine us all to be like that demon in The Exorcist. A raging ego trapped in a world of words. Playing mind games. And when we are told that it's holy water, it burns just fine.

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

#492

Post by mikkergp »

wpietri wrote: post #247
toastercat wrote: post #71

I tried being a Twitter user for a bit last year, mostly because a lot of engineers I admire use it to communicate about interesting topics and also their work. But after a while, I realized even they will pollute my feed with politically divisive topics, whether it be from them retweeting something, or liking a tweet, or even entering into the fray themselves -- Twitter will find a way to get me to see it. For a whi…

Quoted post unavailable.

> Your notion is that you should be entitled not even to hear about the problems of others

Everyone believes this. There are too many people in the world to hear about all the problems. The problem with twitter is not that you hear about peoples problems, it's that you hear about too many to grok. The most political people I know are still periodically taking breaks from twitter because it's too much.

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

#493

Post by polynomial »

dogleash wrote: post #295
MiddleEndian wrote: post #147

I got my twitter account MyfirstnameMylastname somewhere early in the site's existence, probably around 2009. But never really got the appeal of Twitter so I never used it for anything, I'd check it once every six months or so. I eventually learned I share a name with a tech journalist who is very active on Twitter, and occasionally I would get tagged instead instead of him. Every time, I would respond with the Navy…

>Navy Seal Copypasta, broken into eight twitter sized parts. Eventually they banned me for this Fucking killjoys. If twitter is moderating for people who can't even figure out not to take that copypasta seriously[1], then they're showing their hand. There's no end state. No goal. There is no cultural equilibrium point that even perfect moderation could ever achieve. Therefore, visible attrition is the end state. Twit…

everything is to be taken seriously (ie at face value) bc anything more than that would require agreement between those who disagree. (considered to be somewhat of a hard problem.)

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

#494

Post by ratww »

nonameiguess wrote: post #405
Ansil849 wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I play boardgames with Sue, that's enough. We meet, enjoy a beer and play some Catan and go our separate ways. That's a fine relationship. > If I follow Sue on social media, now I know her politics, religion, sex life, drug usage, opinions on every little thing.. and frankly, I don't care or want to. I'm happy just playing some Catan once in a while. > Historically you didn't need to know everything about everyo…

What is politicized about that? I had no idea the name had ever changed, but thanks to your comment, just spent the last 20 minutes trying to figure out why and no Internet sources citing the fact that a rebrand happened give a reason at all. The only somewhat "political" theory seems to be a Reddit thread citing a Dutch publication claiming the rebrand happened because of pressure from Palestinians complaining that…

Yeah. I have a semi-recent copy and the box says "Catan – Trade Build Settle", so that definitely seems like a regular rebranding. And people who see politics everywhere are projecting that it is political.

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

#495

Post by foldr »

vorpalhex wrote: post #146
toastercat wrote: post #71

I tried being a Twitter user for a bit last year, mostly because a lot of engineers I admire use it to communicate about interesting topics and also their work. But after a while, I realized even they will pollute my feed with politically divisive topics, whether it be from them retweeting something, or liking a tweet, or even entering into the fray themselves -- Twitter will find a way to get me to see it. For a whi…

One of my pet theories for why social media is such a cesspool is that it exposes us to the whole of someone else. If I play boardgames with Sue, that's enough. We meet, enjoy a beer and play some Catan and go our separate ways. That's a fine relationship. If I follow Sue on social media, now I know her politics, religion, sex life, drug usage, opinions on every little thing.. and frankly, I don't care or want to. I'…

> Humanity either needs to "agree to disagree" on wide swaths of things we care a whole bunch about (abortion, firearms, lgbtq, etc) or we need to go back to not discussing those things in public or polite company.

There’s a third option, which is that discussion can lead to actual moral progress where society decides that certain views are just beyond the pale. A few decades ago people might have ‘agreed to disagree’ on whether interracial marriage was ok. Now society has formed a consensus on this issue and anyone who’s opposed to interracial marriage is part of an isolated fringe.

Saying that we should agree to disagree on controversial issues sounds superficially reasonable - especially when you’re exhausted from reading some awful twitter thread. It won’t necessarily sound so great in retrospect. It’s also a luxury that people directly affected by the relevant issues don’t always have.

The real problem isn't people debating controversial issues, which is fine and healthy and necessary for progress. The problem is the way that platforms like Twitter incentivize hot takes, rapid response, bullying, and other behavior that's not conducive to rational discussion.

Also, anyone who thinks that intemperate public discourse on controversial topics is a new phenomenon should check out some of the things that Thomas Moore and Martin Luther said to each other: https://meansandmatters.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/my-favorite...

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

#496

Post by polynomial »

kzrdude wrote: post #392
ar_lan wrote: post #233

Twitter is the fastest way for me to feel like I'm a completely worthless human being, especially in the tech sector. It overwhelmingly emphasizes the following, from my experience: 1. If you are not famous, you don't matter. 2. Front-end engineers are invariably the most important and skillful, and backend engineers really aren't valuable. 3. If you hold any position that's even accidentally politically incorrect, y…

I'm not a fan of twitter either, mainly for reason (3). It is a platform where it's very easy to be publically shamed in an unproportional manner. In comparison, forums like hacker news and reddit don't focus on the person writing, but focuses on the conversation. People can respond in a mean way (unfortunately) to a comment, but not "to the person", it doesn't have the same dynamic. The potential for huge reach of a…

the point you are making here is spot on but woefully under acknowledged imo

the conversational semantics of twitter and hn/reddit are completely different; the underlying models can be seen as formally -and sharply- distinct.

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

#497

Post by izzygonzalez »

tlarkworthy wrote: post #139
izzygonzalez wrote: post #37

In analyzing my personal motivations and looking at "common sense" knowledge and psych research on the topic, I've come to the conclusion that we gain a lot of motivational energy from others. We live in worlds of stories and narratives, and those narratives are strengthened when mirrored and shared by others. If someone notices or sees my work or praises me for my work, it is a strong signal to my brain that it's on…

BTW, your observable profile link is broken

Woops! Fixed. Thanks for taking the time to let me know :)

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

#498

Post by wpietri »

civilized wrote: post #468
wpietri wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

I just don't think anyone has to be on Twitter to learn about (for instance) bad legislation that affects marginalized people so they can oppose it. It tends to bubble up into other media sources. And nowadays, those media sources will cite the big influential tweets anyway, so it's not even like you can escape from Twitter. It seems like you're reading the original comment as saying "I feel justified in never thinki…

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

#499

Post by LAC-Tech »

deanCommie wrote: post #429
pvarangot wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience running joke and pseudonymous Twitter accounts most "respectable engineers" talking about politics on Twitter are not posting about their real problems as much as trying to appeal to signal they belong to a certain culture because it's beneficial for their careers or their public image. There's a lot of exceptions of course but honestly most good engineers will probably be tweeting the interesting po…

Quoted post unavailable.

I care about my public image only so far as how I can use it to help others.

Letting everyone know this is probably really good for your public image. You sound so selfless.

It's pretty sad to realize that there are people who go through life only doing things based on how what they do will benefit their image or perception by others.

Some people have the the ability to do it subconsciously, perhaps without even realising it.

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

#500

Post by mecha_ghidorah »

ratww wrote: post #407
gedy wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Issue is usually in defining terms like 'transphobe' - I've encountered folks who define that as someone who wouldn't be willing to sleep with or be attracted to a trans person in the same way as a biological female. I think that's an example of an area people are just going to have to agree to disagree.

That's a bit of a strawman. That's not transphobic. Nobody is obligated to have sex with anyone, trans or cis, period. That's not even up for discussion. If one, however, goes out of their way to harass transexual people when stating this preference, then yeah, it's a bit transphobic. Intention matters.

I did just literally get into an argument with an acquaintance last week because she was insisting that it was not an ok or valid thing for someone to not want to date trans women as a category if they were ok with dating women. So I wouldn't call it a strawman.

I'd say it is a probably a minority position but it is a genuinely held one

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