The sound of birds tweting happily away is one of the most beautiful this world has to offer. The singing of birds is especially beautiful during the Dawn Chorus and late in the evening just as our feathered friends are preparing to roost for the night. There is, however another kind of tweting which sets my teeth on edge, that of twitter.com.
My objections to Twitter are twofold, first it promotes (not always but often) inanity of the worst kind and, second twitter.com leads people to behave irresponsibly and, on occasions with a blatant disregard to the law.
As regards pointless tweting I really don’t care that Jo Bloggs is having coffee in Mcdonalds or some other restaurant and I smile with disbelief at those who religiously follow Jo Blogg’s tweats. Apart from my concerns regarding those who note all Jo’s tweats I also can’t help thinking that Mr Blogs might enjoy his coffee even more if he didn’t feel the necessity of tweting to all and sundry about his drinking habits.
Of course who people choose to follow is their own concern, It is no business of mine grimace though I may. However of real concern is the irresponsible attitude adopted by some users of Twitter. This was most recently exemplified by approximately 10,000 users of Twitter who either accused a senior member of the British Tory (Conservative) Party of being a paedophile or retweted these wholly false allegations. Given the falsity of the tweats the gentleman in question has, not surprisingly instructed lawyers to sue the tweters in question. As it stands a number of prominent people stand to lose significant sums of money if they are proved to have made the false allegations in question.
Paedophilia is a horrendous crime, however to make baseless allegations concerning innocent individuals is wholly inexcusable. Of course tongues will wag in pubs and other public places and one can not prevent this. However in the case of Twitter baseless accusations can be tweted around the globe to hundreds of thousands of people in a matter of seconds and the names of wholly innocent people become blackened. People who have never in their lives harmed a child have been attacked and, on occasions killed due to wholly baseless rumours regarding them. People need to think rather than jumping on the band wagon and using Twitter to fuel the rumour mill.
When I think of Twitter that phrase of Shakespeare’s springs unbidden into my mind “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing”.
Having said all that I do use Twitter to promote my blog so I am speaking with something of a fawked tongue. However I am seriously considering closing my Twitter account as I don’t like the ethos which all to often it seems to spawn. Of course there are countless numbers of decent Twitter users but I still don’t like the shallowness which it all to often appears to represent.
K Morris - Poet 