Anti Social Media?

I've undoubtedly given the impression, over the past couple of posts, that I detest everyone on Twitter.  Indeed, in addition to the right-wing douche bags masquerading as liberal lefties (until some other faux lefties are rude to them) and the pseudo anarchists who reject all hierarchies except those imposed by God, I could also highlight the unbearable middle class smart arses, (who also fancy themselves some kind of liberals).  Just the other day I saw one of the latter commenting on the recent failed attempt to relax Sunday trading regulations even further, airily dismissing critics of the proposed new laws by questioning why 'in this day and age' Sunday trading should be restricted.  'If you don't want to shop on a Sunday, don't', the little twerp concluded, apparently oblivious to the fact that this completely misses all of the main issues, particularly the rights and conditions of workers who could be forced to work on Sundays - if he knew his history, he'd know that we  workers fought a long hard battle to establish a five day working week for the majority and create 'the weekend'.  Then, of course, there are the social aspects - having a 'special' day once a week, when most people don't have to work and you can't spend all day shopping, creates a national shared experience - something very important when it comes to creating social ties.  I, for one, enjoy having a nice relaxed, slower paced day once a week.

But I digress.  You might well ask why I continue to use Twitter when it is so chock full of these obnoxious and ignorant turds.  But the fact is that there are still a lot of good people on Twitter.  Those I follow and the vast majority who follow me (sadly, you get no choice as to who follows you) are perfectly reasonable people.  I keep my quota of celebrities I follow to a bare minimum, so most of them are ordinary web users.  A fairly large proportion of them are fellow satire sites and their editors, contributors and owners, a lot of them being fellow Humorfeed members.   Thankfully, the majority of those I follow don't fill my time line with crackpot politics and borderline hate speak.  Instead, they, in the main, tweet and retweet stuff which, by and large, amuses and, sometimes, informs me.  Of course, it helps that I try and keep the number of people I follow manageable.  As I've noted before in these pages, it must be near impossible to follow a timeline which has hundreds, if not thousands, of people you are following tweeting.  Especially if they are prolific tweeters.  It must be utterly incoherent.  A cacophony of voices.  Believe me, there are times when it is difficult to keep up with only fifty or so voices you are following.  Hopefully I've managed to correct the impression I may have previously given that everyone on Twitter is either a twat or a reactionary hate monger.  Sure, some are, so you have to be selective about who you follow, (even then, some might unexpectedly turn into psychos).