Thursday, October 11, 2018

Why are there so many douchebags on Twitter and Gab?

I'm never on Twitter but I have been spending some time on Gab.ai, and twice in the last week have found myself in arguments with people who seem to have the education level of a fruit fly.  Last night was someone telling me that fascists aren't socialists and that libertarians are fascists.

I don't know if it is the 300 character limit of the posts that makes people into idiots (or attracts them), but it's a big turnoff.  While I am often too wordy, at least I show my work in my posts here.  The commenters here are unfailingly polite and intelligent.  I can't figure out why the Twitter/Gab is so widely infested with douchebags.

At least Gab has a "Mute" button which blocks someone you aren't interested in reading.  I think I will get a lot quicker on the trigger there in the future.

12 comments:

ProudHillbilly said...

The response I got from someone when I asked how looking at x, y, and z was anti-science was to be called a retard rather than being givrn an answrr. All social media is full of it.

ASM826 said...

Fascists aren't necessarily socialists. Libertarians are definitely not fascists.

There, that's less than 300 characters.

SiGraybeard said...

If we truly do get into a shooting "civil war 2", I think it's going to be due to the effects of social media.

You've doubtless read how it was engineered to reward pleasure centers in the brain and encourage addicted behaviors. Online discourse is the opposite of Heinlein's "an armed society is a polite society". There's no accountability at all for anything people say. Anonymous discourse is even worse.

Simply, it brings out the worst in douchebags. To be complete, it brings out the worst in everyone, it's just that it's most visible in douchebags.

Flugelman said...

Don't do social media, just read my favorite blogs and selected news sources. Life is too short to suffer fools and most people (in my estimation) don't really care that much what I think anyway.

Lawrence Person said...

I believe this is explained by Jon Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad theory.

Richard said...

Tweets are basically electronic bumper stickers and we all know how thoughtful they are.

If there was ever a case of the medium being the message, it is social media.

McChuck said...

Meanings or words have changed over time. Fascist no longer means socialist. It now means nationalist/populist, or anybody opposing the Left. Well, actually, it's always meant anybody opposing the Left. AntiFa was founded by the Communist party in Germany in the 1930's, after all.

Todd said...

It's because it's virtual. If it were in real life, where we could actually punch them square in the face, they wouldn't behave like that.

jon spencer said...

Freezoxee looks interesting.
Could be a Ok social media site.

Glen Filthie said...

I won’t touch twitter with a 10 foot pole... but I am all over Gab for the rude jokes. I mean jeez... where else are you going to find pics of Pepe The Frog licking the flies off Hillary Clinton’s face? HAR HAR HAR!

You may have to check me on this BP but I think it may be a matter of historical record: Julius Caesar and his wife are on a chariot, doing the triumphal parade thing - when they pass a large building where some ancient graffiti artist scrawled a crude cartoon of Julius pouring the salami to some equestrian class harlot! And the entire city almost has a bird as they all try to go silent, ignore it and not notice it... which just has the opposite effect.

Gab is that wall of our times. It is a modern relic of our age that will give our descendants an accurate and unbiased account of who we were long after we are gone.

capt fast said...

pretty much have fb and twit figured. they are free for who ever wants to use it. that explains the lunacy and ignorance of the users. politicians really like it because it lets them directly influence there peeps.
once your on fb or twit, you become a public figure and no longer entitled to personal privacy. when was the last time anyone was sued for liable for posting an obnoxious comment or photo on fb or twit. twit sounds so much more descriptive than twitter.
as regards the common twit poster, it needs to be remembered that twit poster use their thumbs to type/peck their posts. A skill which some day come into its own. I prefer voice to text in as much as the spelling is ignored for brevity's sake. also, that my hands are so large and the keypads are so small.

Unknown said...

freezohee looks to be financed by google asholes !!