Twitter is a Force for Good

Contrarian Take of the Week: July 17th

Each week, I post a take on the world that goes against conventional wisdom. Partially, this is due to me always viewing the world differently and partially due to the gadfly within. The Contrarian Take of the week is: Twitter is a Force for Good.

There’s a lot of talk about social media being a source of division, a source of hostility, and a source of echo chambers. Twitter is perhaps the most criticized and blamed. Of course, this is true to an extent. But this is because we do not use these wonderful tools in the appropriate way.

Twitter is the modern day Assembly

I submit to you that Twitter and other social media platforms are the modern-day forum or assembly. The best part is that they are open to all, not just those wealthy aristocrats who had the time and money to receive training from Greek Sophists and Rhetoricians.

No! Social media is open to you, me! In addition to formal training, where better for the ancients to sharpen their minds than in verbal sparring? We can do the same. The best part is, we are not limited to the few hundred people in our polis. The world is at our fingertips.

The same tools and techniques the ancient Greeks and Romans used to hone their own minds are available for use via social media. Once more, if we use it correctly.

Its easy to fall into the vortex

When I first got on Twitter back in March or April of this year, I was sucked into a vortex. Outrage, anger, disgust, and trepidation. Sometimes an hour would go by, and I would lose the concept of time. The only thing similar was when I was younger, trying to beat the last boss in Mario and finally beating Halo for the first time. time in my life where.

It troubled me because I had avoided social media for this very reason. I didn’t want to get caught up in the latest outrage of the day or hour. To be aghast at the latest breaking news about someone doing something to someone. I ended up taking a month or so off.

My approach not the platform was wrong

The main issue was that I was floating around like a feather in the wind with my emotions and no real purpose. I realized that even the most vulgar and rude people could be of benefit. Then, after taking stock of what I had experienced, I realized that it could be used better. That twitter was a force for good, if used properly.

I began to see that those frank, unbridled comments about me and those I agreed with always caused me to reflect. The direct questions and even challenges to my position forced me to consider not only their position but also my own. In this spirit, I submit the four main benefits of Twitter.

Four Benefits of Twitter

1) Dialectic

You are able to engage in something like dialectic. With some people, you agree, and with others, you disagree. By being exposed to other arguments, you benefit. The benefit is derived because you cannot control what others say and are forced to view their arguments. Instead of an echo chamber, Twitter can be open to all.

J.S. Mill wrote in On Liberty that the only way we can ever really know anything is by hearing a good argument from the other side. Of course, a lot of the arguments are poor. But if you look, you will find intelligent people on the other side who will engage in a solid debate.

2) Consideration of your own opinion

Again, if you are open, it causes you to consider your own position. Why do you believe what you believe? It forces you to really think about your own position, and by so doing, it either corrects a faulty argument or logic or improves and sharpens it.

The great benefit of this is that if you only ever speak with people who agree with you, you will never be forced to think deeply about your own position. One problem with the echo chamber is encountering someone who disagrees but has really done their homework.

Pitfalls of Echo Chambers

By speaking only into an echo chamber, you are not challenged enough to fully consider your own position. You do not explore all sides of your own position as well as theirs. Even if we feel disgust at the opposing point of view, consideration makes us better.

3) Rites of Passage

I know the vulgarity and utter rudeness of some people are off-putting, to say the least. It certainly doesn’t contribute to discourse or anything positive. But a benefit is that by going through the fire, so to speak, you are prepared for the worst.

From the beginning of time until the present day, there have been rites of passage. (Bear with me here.) The idea is that you pass through an ordeal of some kind, and by going through it, you are initiated as having passed the test. The person felt an inner strength and confidence after experiencing the great and terrible things.

Doctors sit through a review board where a hostel panel interrogates them. They will even tailor their manner to target the perceived weaknesses. Fraternities and Sororities adopt similar tactics with their new members.

The military has a variety of these rituals, ranging from The Crucible in the Marines to the Navy SEALS “Hell Week”. Many branches have what is called a “Murder Board” where a member goes through something much more difficult than the final test.

By dealing with the the extreme, we can better handle the normal

You improve by dealing with the most extreme scenarios. It is good to expose yourself to something difficult; in the worst case scenario, the more hostile a client will be, the more difficult a patient will be, and the more hostile a commanding officer will ever be.

Twitter is great if you approach those people—even the rude ones—as helping you learn. Most people do not act like that. Even the most extreme on Twitter would not say those things in real life.

4) Twitter helps you learn

If you log in with something of an open mind, you are going to hear every possible argument for every issue. You are presented with a vast store of knowledge. Some of the brightest humans on the planet regularly post and comment on the platform.

I cannot tell you how many times I have learned something that I had never heard of before. This holds for many accounts, including one-sided partisan accounts or those using humor and sarcasm. Approach it with a mind to learn; you will find knowledge not to be found elsewhere.

Argumentation and ignoring nonsense

Additionally, you learn from experts in every field how to frame and pose your own arguments. You also learn how others think and respond. You quickly find out that the root of any disagreement tends to hinge on a few points.

That’s the other thing that Twitter teaches us, which is to ignore nonsense. You can immediately tell who’s worth discussing things with and who’s not. Who is a worthy adversary and who is not? Who is regurgitating nonsense that they heard on their particular news source or not? By so doing, you’re so much better.