{"id":137182,"date":"2019-07-08T12:01:05","date_gmt":"2019-07-08T11:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=137182"},"modified":"2019-07-07T10:52:54","modified_gmt":"2019-07-07T09:52:54","slug":"to-tweet-or-not-to-tweet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/07\/to-tweet-or-not-to-tweet\/","title":{"rendered":"To Tweet or Not to Tweet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image courtesy of Wikicommons<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n

6 Jul 2019 – <\/em>I just finished reading a famous and well-regarded essay by a famous and well-regarded author, an essay I should have read at least a few years ago but which I missed because I have been distracted by the very same issues that prompted the essay in the first place: how to make sense of our new digitally oriented world.<\/p>\n

Rather than alight on the virtues of the brief and finely crafted piece with whose conclusion or culminating point I think<\/em> I agree \u2013 and I say think<\/em> because something about the craftiness and the loosely ambling paragraphs in which was concentrated a tremendous mass of casually expressed erudition put me off. Perhaps I was jealous, perhaps I was confused a little, or perhaps I was, more simply, taken aback by the realisation that the times I had been reading thoughts and ideas in formats extending beyond the length of a \u2018tweet\u2019 \u2013 and I confess I am myself not even on Twitter \u2013 have diminished over the past several years.<\/p>\n

Well, I exaggerate, of course.\u00a0 I have<\/em> read books and plays and essays, and not just on the ubiquitous screens we have at our disposal. But it sure feels as if everybody these days has an opinion, and everybody\u2019s opinion is conveniently rocketed out into cyberspace in the form of a message whose length is restricted to 280 characters (I just looked this up).\u00a0 So I wonder: if you can\u2019t get your idea(s) across in fewer than 280 characters, is your idea worthwhile? Or are you one of these people who has a hard time sneaking a few good ideas into so narrow a cell, and if so, what\u2019s wrong with you<\/em>?<\/p>\n

I believe, however, that this form of communication that has taken over much of the world \u2013 this form that demands brevity or pithiness (or laziness?) \u2013 has begun to establish expectations in fora where we all could use a little more length and breadth, as, for example, in debating how a country could or should be run.<\/p>\n

Over the years I have pined for a programme on American TV where two people might be given the time and courtesy to express their views in all the abundance they require, and with supporting evidence, so that an eager listener might actually be able to form an independent judgment about the merits of the cases presented. In other words, a true debate adhering to ideals of civility.<\/p>\n

Instead the arts of interruption, of shouting down, of raising one\u2019s voice, and of promoting spectacle over substance have been encouraged. With the flourishing of instantaneous digital communication these arts have blossomed \u2013 or been squeezed? \u2013 into the irksome mechanical hectoring birdsong that is about as far from song as a papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9 moon is from the real elusive reflective orb that has inspired human souls for millennia.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I\u2019ve decided to hunker down and duck below the endless digital spray of tweets until they run out of ammunition \u2013 or at least until they pause to reload.<\/p>\n

There will be a pause, won\u2019t there?<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Dr. Emanuel E. Garcia is a Philadelphia-born writer, theatrical director, physician, and <\/em>a member of the <\/em>TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/a>. <\/em>He resides in New Zealand since 2006 and his political essays and poetry have appeared widely on various websites and publications <\/em>including<\/a><\/em> TMS<\/a><\/em>. His most recent novel is the comic tale of accountants, artists and astrophysicists in New York entitled <\/em>Manhattan Stardust. <\/em>Website: <\/em>www.emanuelegarcia.com<\/a>. Email: <\/em>emanuelegarcia@gmail.com<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>Dr. Garcia is a physician and writer who has no hashtag.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So I wonder: if you can\u2019t get your idea(s) across in fewer than 280 characters, is your idea worthwhile? Or are you one of these people who has a hard time sneaking a few good ideas into so narrow a cell, and if so, what\u2019s wrong with YOU?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":137183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[290,378,531,642,234,1008],"class_list":["post-137182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members","tag-culture","tag-journalism","tag-literacy","tag-literature","tag-media","tag-twitter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}