“Look over there, what about them!!!”
Second time this thread you’ve tried that. Are you being that obtuse on purpose?
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Yup. I’ve become almost completely dormant on the platform but I sometimes still need to use it for work. I do check in every so often on my list of follows that hasn’t moved on to other networks. I don’t engage with anything outside of my highly curated network. That being said I have no illusions about what a fashy shit show it has become and I feel a little dirty every time I use it.
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I think that there are plenty of reasons why people might still be on it… as long as people can understand what they are tacitly supporting by that, then okay.
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Right?!? Some weird defensiveness with a garnish of “whataboutism” up in here.
With a floater of “insincere flounce.” 
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“But BB is doing it too!”
Please do refrain from using diminutives as if you are familiar enough to do so; thanks.
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Yes, yes we do, as I believe I’ve already discussed before. The Facebooks, Instagrams, TikToks and Twitters of the world (and ads in general) are a necessary evil that keeps the BBS (and many other places) alive. This is also true of news organizations, businesses that rely on outreach, relief organizations and even individual creators who rely on the reach of Twitter to do what they do, make a living, or help those in need.
You don’t just shut down all those orgs or end people’s careers because Musk is a dick. That’s how Musk wins. Instead you interact with the parts you need to, and try to support alternatives, or even better, find a way to enrich yourself without giving back to the platform (like, say, removing twitter share buttons everywhere).
So yes, we continue to be a part of that ecosystem because we believe existing outweighs “making a point” to Musk, and we do it while deciding to promote and participate actively in alternatives.
The thing is though, unless I’m missing something, most individuals do not have an existential crisis to consider when deciding to keep their twitter accounts. so yes, they’re making an active choice to continue to use the platform. If you do so, fine, it’s your choice, but don’t act so surprised when your choices are questioned. That’s how forums work when you announce you believe or do a thing - people will question why you do that thing. I strongly recommend not participating here if you mistakenly believe that you signed up for a “I can say what I want and no one will challenge my beliefs” and found out that’s not actually what was written on the tin here.
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Yup, and sometimes you just have to pick your battles. I know I’ll be deleting my account once any remaining reasons for my limited engagement on that platform are gone. In the mean time I use it as minimally as possible and I do everything I can while using it to sabotage any ability to monetize my usage (ad blockers, not engaging out of my limited circle, blocking all Twitter trackers, etc.
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He’ll probably say Twitter could not possibly be considered “media”
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I appreciated you sharing your viewpoint and reasoning. I like learning how other people see things from their own perspectives.
That being said, from my perspective anyone who uses Twitter is making a mistake. I wish more humans would make an effort towards positive behavior, and mindfully disengage from purveyors of hatred and convenient misrepresentations of fact. As I see it, if I use Twitter, it could make me something less than I could be, and it certainly won’t make me any better.
This has nothing to do with Elon Musk, or with what color skin someone has, or what is inside someone’s pantaloons - it’s just that Twitter is a hate machine. By design. It is optimized for reducing the human condition. So I think we should all turn away from it, not follow links to it, not read it, not post on it.
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I don’t disagree but you could make that argument for the majority of for-profit sites on the internet, or for-profit entities in general.
Sometimes you just have to pick your battles and understand the consequences of what you’re indirectly supporting by using these products. I often feel that if I took a principled stand and boycotted everything that was evil, or evil-adjacent, there wouldn’t be much left for me in the world.
ETA fixed a word for clarity
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Ghods, I hear you. And the less money you have, the worse that problem is. In my own case, although I have managed to maintain a complete boycott of Twitter, I ended up creating a secret Facebook account because that has become the only way to learn about certain events I attend (including one later today).
And that’s one of the tragedies of Twitter - because good people have channeled their communications into it, and now refuse to leave, they drag others in. There’s a network effect spreading the poison.
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Even otherwise highly principled people get sucked into this trap. I’m a big fan of author John Scalzi, who is about as principled and woke as a person can get. He’s written at length about what a monster Musk is and how he’s turned Twitter into a Nazi/MAGA shitshow. Yet, he’s also said he isn’t leaving. Why? Because he has 200k followers and he likes the audience. He’s said as much in almost those exact words. That’s it. Basic vanity. An audience that big is seductive. Because he stays, lots of other people stay to follow him and others like him, as you say.
It’s really disappointing. I was sure he of all people would leave, but we’re all human. We all have our weaknesses and imperfections.
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(That show got it SO right.)
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We all pick our moral battles for the day or lifetime.
That being said in the case of twitter I think being on the platform is becoming actually dangerous and if that doesn’t apply to you that’s nice but you are still drinking “the milk” whether you look at the label or just close your eyes and swallow.
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