With twitter in particular, I really really don’t get how any leftists are still on there. Its like, beguiling.
Honestly, if you are any kind of a progressive or leftist or just don’t identify as a rightwing piece of shit, and are still on twitter once Elon took it over, you might be a part of the problem.
I know its an extreme take, but I’m like, fresh out of fucks.
Like I’m forgiving of artists because most of their customer base is there, and internationally, alt platforms are even more unknown. I am somewhat forgiving of journalists who want to reach the widest amount of people possible, despite the fact that Musk has been intentionally targeting and censoring journalists he doesn’t like.
I really don’t get a lot of leftist or liberal content creators though. Many constantly push the message that you vote with your wallet, and discourage patronizing businesses, services, or franchises that actively hate or harm marginalized people. Yet at the same time, they are using a platform owned by some who is literally trying to make the platform as hostile to marginalized people as possible. A lot of users have left twitter because they no longer feel safe using the platform. In fact, the reason you see a lot of queer people here on fediverse is because many of them are twitter refugees.
And yet many leftist and liberal creators remain on twitter, exclusively in fact. I could understand it if they pushed some content to alts to keep within reach of users that left while still maintaining their fanbase on twitter, but many of them won’t even touch any of the alternatives, much less make themselves more reachable on youtube or other social platforms. By remaining on twitter, they are encouraging their userbase to remain as well, which creates engagement, which benefits ad companies who pay Musk, who funnels that into groups and causes that undermine their audience.
At this point, It is an integrity test for me. How large is this creator’s following on twitter? How often does this person post and interact on twitter? and what have they said in the past about interacting with harmful brands? What’s their excuse for remaining if any, and would they had accepted that excuse if the shoe was on the other foot?
I accept some people have an addiction, and as someone who tried to leave reddit many times, I know it can be a hard one to kick. But if your brand is built on integrity, standing up for the marginalized, and being ethical with your consumption habbits, remaining active on twitter is not a good look to me.
But what about the comic?! The comic says I don’t have to change my lifestyle to align with my purported values! It absolves me of my responsibility to do anything beyond complain, no matter how trivial the change required! Doesn’t the comic say I can complain about something without actually having to contribute anything beyond hot air to fixing it?
As a self identified leftist and someone that follows and sex workers and supports sex work. I will be on Twitter probably until the bitter end because Twitter is the only social media platform that actually lets sex workers exist. Many sex workers have tried Instagram and constantly get banned on there (when on noon work related accounts that are completely sfw because Meta inn particular is quite bad about sex worker discrimination.
Unfortunately mastodon isn’t a silver bullet either. One of the largest mastodon instances was a sex worker instance and had to sit down last year because of bullshit discriminatory Aussie laws . Sadly tech isn’t going to solve this problem. It’s going to take legislative policy to finally end the discrimination that sex workers gave once and for all (don’t get me started on the banks!)
With twitter in particular, I really really don’t get how any leftists are still on there. Its like, beguiling.
Honestly, if you are any kind of a progressive or leftist or just don’t identify as a rightwing piece of shit, and are still on twitter once Elon took it over, you might be a part of the problem.
I know its an extreme take, but I’m like, fresh out of fucks.
Like I’m forgiving of artists because most of their customer base is there, and internationally, alt platforms are even more unknown. I am somewhat forgiving of journalists who want to reach the widest amount of people possible, despite the fact that Musk has been intentionally targeting and censoring journalists he doesn’t like.
I really don’t get a lot of leftist or liberal content creators though. Many constantly push the message that you vote with your wallet, and discourage patronizing businesses, services, or franchises that actively hate or harm marginalized people. Yet at the same time, they are using a platform owned by some who is literally trying to make the platform as hostile to marginalized people as possible. A lot of users have left twitter because they no longer feel safe using the platform. In fact, the reason you see a lot of queer people here on fediverse is because many of them are twitter refugees.
And yet many leftist and liberal creators remain on twitter, exclusively in fact. I could understand it if they pushed some content to alts to keep within reach of users that left while still maintaining their fanbase on twitter, but many of them won’t even touch any of the alternatives, much less make themselves more reachable on youtube or other social platforms. By remaining on twitter, they are encouraging their userbase to remain as well, which creates engagement, which benefits ad companies who pay Musk, who funnels that into groups and causes that undermine their audience.
At this point, It is an integrity test for me. How large is this creator’s following on twitter? How often does this person post and interact on twitter? and what have they said in the past about interacting with harmful brands? What’s their excuse for remaining if any, and would they had accepted that excuse if the shoe was on the other foot?
I accept some people have an addiction, and as someone who tried to leave reddit many times, I know it can be a hard one to kick. But if your brand is built on integrity, standing up for the marginalized, and being ethical with your consumption habbits, remaining active on twitter is not a good look to me.
But what about the comic?! The comic says I don’t have to change my lifestyle to align with my purported values! It absolves me of my responsibility to do anything beyond complain, no matter how trivial the change required! Doesn’t the comic say I can complain about something without actually having to contribute anything beyond hot air to fixing it?
I can’t remember if Milo or Binkley said it, but “there are no moral absolutes in a complex world.”
As a self identified leftist and someone that follows and sex workers and supports sex work. I will be on Twitter probably until the bitter end because Twitter is the only social media platform that actually lets sex workers exist. Many sex workers have tried Instagram and constantly get banned on there (when on noon work related accounts that are completely sfw because Meta inn particular is quite bad about sex worker discrimination.
Unfortunately mastodon isn’t a silver bullet either. One of the largest mastodon instances was a sex worker instance and had to sit down last year because of bullshit discriminatory Aussie laws . Sadly tech isn’t going to solve this problem. It’s going to take legislative policy to finally end the discrimination that sex workers gave once and for all (don’t get me started on the banks!)