'The Great Delusion Behind Twitter' NYT op-ed from progressive-minded Ezra Klein (Page 1/1)
rinselberg DEC 12, 08:51 AM
Ezra Klein was famously (or not so famously) described as an "odious little Left wing troll" by one of the denizens of this forum.

Considering exactly which forum member that came from, it's an elegant attestation of the worthiness of Ezra Klein's ideas and opinions.

"The Great Delusion Behind Twitter"
Ezra Klein for the New York Times; December 11, 2022.
https://www.nytimes.com/202...rn-from-quakers.html

A "10 minute" read. Here's how it starts:

quote
For what feels like ages, we’ve been told that Twitter is, or needs to be, the world’s town square. That was Dick Costolo’s line in 2013, when he was Twitter’s chief executive (“We think of it as the global town square”), and Jack Dorsey, one of Twitter’s founders, used it, too, in 2018 (“People use Twitter as a digital public square”). Now the line comes from the “chief twit,” Elon Musk (“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square”).

This metaphor is wrong on three levels.

First, there isn’t, can’t be and shouldn’t be a “global town square.” The world needs many town squares, not one. Public spaces are rooted in the communities and contexts in which they exist. This is true, too, for Twitter, which is less a singular entity than a digital multiverse. What Twitter is for activists in Zimbabwe is not what it is for gamers in Britain.

Second, town squares are public spaces, governed in some way by the public. That is what makes them a town square rather than a square in a town. They are not the playthings of whimsical billionaires. They do not exist, as Twitter did for so long, to provide returns to shareholders. (And as wild as Musk’s reign has already been, remember that he tried to back out of this deal, and Twitter’s leadership, knowing he neither wanted the service nor would treat it or its employees with care, forced it through to ensure that executives and shareholders got their payout.) A town square controlled by one man isn’t a town square. It’s a storefront, an art project or possibly a game preserve.

Third, what matters for a polity isn’t the mere existence of a town square but the condition the townspeople are in when they arrive. Town squares can host debates. They can host craft fairs. They can host brawls. They can host lynchings. Civilization does not depend on a place to gather. It depends on what happens when people gather.
williegoat DEC 12, 10:06 AM

edit: If you can explain the significance of this .gif, not just the source, but what is happening, you have been paying attention.

[This message has been edited by williegoat (edited 12-12-2022).]

williegoat DEC 16, 11:39 PM

quote
Originally posted by williegoat:

CLICK FOR FULL SIZE

edit: If you can explain the significance of this .gif, not just the source, but what is happening, you have been paying attention.



Ingrid Bergman has just discovered a letter which reveals the truth which Charles Boyer has been concealing. The name of the movie: “Gaslight”
olejoedad DEC 17, 07:56 AM
Isn't that akin to lighting a fart?

It sometimes appears that way!
rinselberg DEC 17, 01:46 PM
Don't mind me, I'm just trying to create a Wall of Rinselberg in the Last Post column.
williegoat DEC 17, 02:03 PM

quote
Originally posted by rinselberg:

Don't mind me, I'm just trying to create a Wall of Rinselberg in the Last Post column.



Walls are racist!
A Leftist told me that.
Jake_Dragon DEC 17, 03:07 PM

quote
Originally posted by rinselberg:

Delusion



rinselberg DEC 17, 03:11 PM
It's a reference to the "Wall of Dennis6" which was a signal event in the history of this forum.

If you don't know about the "Wall of Dennis6", then shame on you.

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-17-2022).]