Twitter Is Great For Arguing With Complete Strangers

If you use Twitter, you’ll know that it’s mainly used for arguing with each other, usually between people who have never met and probably never will meet.

Don’t you just love the Internet? A place where you get to exchange punches with trolls who love nothing better than to pick a fight with complete strangers. I have a Twitter account, but very rarely post on it, except maybe to promote my websites or latest writing project. But it’s not all about squabbling because, if you can rise above the petty arguments, you may find something that piques your interest. Eventually.

On the other hand, Twitter is supposed to be used as a tool to bring people together, in what is described by Jack Dorsey, ex-CEO of Twitter, as a free platform for democracy (sic).

But up until now, my experience with Twitter is receiving notifications that person X has just posted something which might interest me, presumably reaching me through the Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon Rule that determines I may have read a related post.

Some may suggest that I turn off all notifications from Twitter, but then if I did that, I wouldn’t be human, would I? Part of the fun is watching Tweeters (what a God-awful word that is) self-emolliate, or observe a perfectly innocent, non-partisan (can I say that here?) comments stir up a hornet’s nest of indignation. And don’t forget that most Tweeters are in a permanent state of indignation. It’s actually a requirement, don’t you know?

Naturally, it’s important to remember that every Tweet (I still hate that word) is publicly visible and can be reproduced ad nauseum all over the Internet. You simply cannot escape from Tweets, which I suppose is the entire point. So if your intention is to stir up trouble, there’s nothing better than an attention-grabbing one-liner such as this gem:

One’s attention is immediately drawn to those four words, particularly the last two, and when I opened the message (Tweet) I saw that battle had already commenced. I won’t delve further into specific subjects, but I think you get the drift. Suffice to say that I will probably remain on the sidelines of Twitter (I still hate that word) and observe from a safe distance.

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