Twitter part 1

I think about all the people I’ve met through twitter, and how many of them I still talk to after my year and a half on twitter. So much has changed from the very beginning. I joined to follow @sometipsforlife and @supercheyne (formerly @spudcheyne) and now I’m following 395 people. I know some of them and others I don’t remember why I’m following them. As in life, people come and go. You drift apart, and you realize you have nothing in common or you come to the decision that you just don’t like the person. I have a few people I really don’t like, but I follow them because it’s less drama. In the past, I would keep following people I didn’t like or was not interested in simply so I would not have to engage in the “why did you unfollow me?” drama. “I think you’re a drunken self loathing piece of shit who I can’t stand” is not something I want to say to someone. Yes, I know. It shocks some people that I wouldn’t say that, but I’ve learned (although the lesson doesn’t always stick) that twitter is so insignificant to the rest of my life. Why spend so much energy on someone I most likely will never meet or ever want to meet? That’s not to say that people on twitter have not made a substantial impact on my life. They have, but I’ve grown weary of engaging in twitter drama. It serves no purpose.

I’m not an angel. I’ve been an asshole, and I’ve been unfairly labeled as an asshole. Once you’ve engaged in a twitter war, everything you tweet is ready to be interpreted as an attack. Nothing I can do about that. A substantial number of people only follow me because they wait for me to say something controversial or engage in another twitter war. Would I take back some of the things I said? OF course, but I also would not take back some of the things I’ve said. Some people are indeed self-destructive scum and I see no point in saying otherwise although I have learned that not saying anything can be a powerful tool. I’m not the center of someone else’s universe, and in the end, what I say about/to them doesn’t matter so why get my self worked up about someone I have no respect for? I just ignore them if I can. Some people you just can’t escape, but I grit my teeth and refuse to write something that will cause chaos.

It takes a lot for me to unfollow someone I’ve followed for a long time. I always hold on to the hope that we can somehow go back to the time when our twitterman/twitter relationship was beneficial to both of us. I unfollowed someone recently because a majority of his tweets were about his affection for Chris Brown. We had a nice and casual twitterlationship but I just could not get past supporting someone who beats up women. There was the man who I had developed a bond with over the last year and a half. I thought he was the sweetest, most thoughtful man. We would engage in discussions on various topics, and we respected each other’s opinions mainly because we completely agreed. When he took a job in direct opposition to those beliefs, I became the enemy, and he attacked when I tweeted something I had said many times before, and something he had agreed with. I was shocked by his response, and it made me reevaluate how I’ve used twitter and how I’m really connected to people on twitter. I can never look at him the same way again. Every positive feeling I had for him ended that day. It shows me that loyalty to someone isn’t always rewarded when your loyalty doesn’t serve his bottom line. Threw me for a definite loop.