So Long, Twitter, and Thanks for All the Fish

 

by Pa Rock

Later today, or perhaps this evening, I will be leaving Twitter for a mental health break that I anticipate will last a minimum of several years.  It is not an action that I take lightly, but it is one that is long overdue.

The Stats:  I joined Twitter in June of 2009 and have been a member continuously since then.  During those thirteen-plus years I have posted over 63,700 tweets, "followed" 27,390 members, and have been followed by 27,989 others.   As those numbers indicate, I have been fairly active on Twitter for a long time.

I am leaving Twitter for two reasons.  First, as a good friend once pointed out, it is "an enormous time suck," and, as I will be seventy-five in the spring, my time is growing exceedingly short - and I have miles to go before I sleep, as well as  grandchildren to visit, leaves to mulch, roses to tend, trips to make, another play to finish, a great American novel to begin, a blog to deal with, some family histories to get finished up, and any stray - dog, cat, or human - who wanders down the lane in need of assistance.  What I do not have time for is crafting tedious insults to launch at political miscreants.

The other thing that has spurred me to cut ties with Twitter is the platform's new owner, Elon Musk.  Though he has been in charge only a couple of weeks, the petulant billionaire has already left his indelible mark on what used to be a a somewhat constructive social media outlet.  Musk came in promising that he would not turn it into a "free-for-all hellscape" and then proceeded to do just that.   The racists and Nazi's raced back in, and then to insure that they had the free run of the place, Musk terminated half of the workforce.   (Happy holidays, you all!).  

Musk then announced that he would begin selling the blue-check verifications for "just" eight dollars a month, though the new checks would be essentially worthless and the equivalent of vanity license plates.  Now he is even floating the idea of a charge for all or at least most Twitter users.  It all sounds like a massive Trumpian grift.

Musk even went on a revenge-bender against some celebrities who used his screen name to poke fun at the very sensitive billionaire.  He has shown an ability to dish it out, but he sure can't take it!

Musk is also politicizing Twitter, something he vowed he would not do.   He retweeted a ludicrous conspiracy theory several days ago implying Paul Pelosi's home-invader and attacker was actually a gay prostitute that Pelosi had brought home from a San Francisco bar - a lie so outlandish that he quickly pulled the tweet.  And a couple of days ago Musk suggested via a tweet that people should vote for Republican congressional candidates to give some "balance" to the national government.

Clearly Musk intends for Twitter to become a conduit for his political beliefs and interests, and clearly his politics and self-interests are on the opposite end of the spectrum from my own.  So he can have Twitter, and the morons can have their blue checks, and I can have some time to get things packed up before I follow the dolphins back to their own planet.

So long, Twitter, and thanks for all the fish!