Twitter: ‘Newspeak’ of the Web
The social media platform has become the stage for formidable political debate. But enter at your own risk ...
As a social media platform, Twitter by its nature is limiting. Once you have signed up for an account, you can Tweet your views to the online world in no more than 140 characters. Even text messages allow for more space. The result: truncated thoughts and ideas. Elements such as ambiguity, subtlety and evidence, so integral to understanding the human condition, suffer. In their place, absolutism dominates. Log onto Twitter and you will encounter a world of fundamentalisms. Generally, most issues are reduced to a core tenet and stripped of the provisos and reservations that define reasonable comment. This inevitably leads to misunderstanding and engenders binary debate. When it comes to politics, Twitter debates quickly become hostile — the purpose not to persuade, but to bludgeon. Quantity is more important than quality: the more a position is endorsed, the more powerful it becomes, regardless of its veracity. This war of attrition has forced political parties to adapt. It is claime...
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