Back in November, I had the privilege of speaking to a group at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg at their Coffee and Conversation events, organized by former State Senator Charlie Justice in their Leadership Development & Programming department. My subject was Twitter in our non-profit world and why we need it.
I'm not sure if I sold any of the folks in the audience on the benefits of Twitter or not. Keep in mind, I was there in my professional capacity (@JWBPinellas), so it had a lot less to do with politics, and a lot more to do with why Twitter is useful, and how to get a start in using it effectively in a non-profit environment.
I think Twitter has worked well for us at JWB, and I think it can be used effectively in the non-profit world. I think it can also be used effectively in a number of other worlds as well -- personally, with respect to things like weather, traffic, news updates, job postings. I've seen some comedians do great stuff on Twitter.
It can be used quite effectively in the political arena as well.
And like most everywhere else, it can be sorely abused, too.
Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) is a writer for Salon. To be honest, I've never cared for either very much. Greenwald is a liberal who hates President Obama. Salon is inconsistent and hard to follow. I don't mind folks who don't care for the president. In fact, I want to see what they have to say. But I find Greenwald (an attorney) deliberately obtuse and long-winded (I know, pot, kettle...).
Apparently, via Twitter, Greenwald backed up a tweet from another person who said that a woman who tweets and blogs at a number of sites, including a regular must-read for me, Balloon-Juice, under the name Angry Black Lady (@AngryBlackLady) would still support President Obama if the president were to "rape a nun live on NBC."
I never followed Greenwald on Twitter, but I did follow Angry Black Lady. I'm unfollowing her now.
Not because she's not right about what Greenwald said -- she is. It's disgusting and it is indefensible (and Greenwald has since doubled-down on defense of the comment, solidifying my dislike for the man). I don't like rape. I don't like people who talk about rape in a cavalier way.
I don't like rapists, and I don't like anyone suggesting the imagery of the President raping someone (much less a holy person).
By my count, the previous sentence there clocks in at 129 characters, with spaces. That's a tweet, with room to spare. And yet, my twitter feed is clogged with righteous twitterers supporting @AngryBlackLady.
Great. I'm glad she's got supporters calling this kind of horrible language out for what it is. It's trash, and we shouldn't tolerate it.
But this isn't what I signed up for. It's not what I signed up for in terms of Twitter, and I don't think it's what fellow liberals, Democrats, or progressives need.
Greenwald's words were offensive, disgusting. Inexcusable.
A good friend of mine once said every dollar is a vote. He was right on. Exactly right. Well, your time and your attention is worth a vote, too. How much of my time did I spend trying to wade through a clogged twitter feed trying to get to something worthwhile? I already knew Greenwald was an asshole. I figured out Angry Black Lady was offended in about thirty seconds. I spent way too long having that reinforced again, and again, and again.
So I unsubscribed from @AngryBlackLady.
If there is any real justice in the world, Joan Walsh, who runs Salon, will fire Greenwald, or at least reprimand him. And I'm just guessing, but there'll be something tomorrow which will make Angry Black Lady, well, angry. The difference is, I wont have to read about it on Twitter.
