idiots abound on Twitter

As I mentioned in a recent comment, I like Twitter as a way of driving traffic to this blog. Twitter has almost no inherent value to me, but it does have instrumental value: it's a means to an end. Twitter is also, I'm sorry to say, an abode for idiots, although I suppose that holds true for all online forums. The best example of Twitter-related idiocy I can think of is the most recent one: I published my post on "how to tell if you're a Twitter idiot"; I then linked to the post on Twitter (here and here); a follower of mine was kind enough to retweet one of my tweets... and that's when the inbreds came out in force.

One eleven-fingered genius wrote:

rule number 2 and 3 are perfect for creating an echo chamber.

—which indicates that the numbskull didn't bother to read the post thoroughly at all. Had he looked more closely at Rule #2, he would have seen:

Does he provoke strong mental and emotional reactions because he thinks opposite the way you do?

And had he read the entire fucking final paragraph, he would have seen:

One last thought: in no way am I implying that you should follow only those whose views you agree with. Go ahead and follow people you disagree with: their points of view might piss you off, but they're guaranteed to make you think. And what could be better than associating with people who expand your mind?

Where's the echo chamber in that? But no, the resident ostrich-brain self-righteously continued:

if I'd only follow people I agree with I'd have a very empty timeline.

Not very grammatical, either. A word of advice: don't try to sound smart when it's painfully obvious that you aren't. See, it works like this: smart people can imitate dumb people, but dumb people can't imitate smart people.

And perhaps because he wasn't satisfied with his short, puffed-up little sermon, he continued to preach sanctimoniously:

I follow random people, people with thoughts completely the opposite of mine, to keep my Twitter balanced.

As if I don't? At least half of the people I follow on Twitter are people on the opposite side of the political fence. I actually agree with the shit-for-brains on this point, but he's too obtuse to notice. It all comes down to the Twitter mentality, I think: no one really bothers to read anymore; everything's become "Too long; didn't read."

Anyway, this reaction burbled up from the bowels of Twitter within mere minutes of that initial retweet, and it's a perfect example of why I'll use Twitter for my ends, but will never consider it my primary vehicle of self-expression.

Idiots. Idiots everywhere.


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