Tuesday, May 26, 2009

If I Twittered, This Is What I'd Tweet...


When you wanna diss that fat fucker, Rush? Call him:

Limbah, the Butt?

Jabba, the Rush?

Each is entirely the consonant allusion. C.f. Darth Cheney.

Only ridicule 'works.'

And hurling offal.
I like the first one better because it alludes to the pilonidal cysts in his rectum that--along with his father the publisher and his uncle the judge--rescued Rusty, after he'd flunked out of South-Southwest Missouri State College in late '67, from being drafted, going to boot-camp, and becoming a man--where that is understood to mean looking at yourself, naked, weak, and afraid, and growing... According to his section 8 papers, he literally grew a mad hair up his ass, and it has never come out. All this is way past twitter range, unless you broke it up...

Is that the underlying message/lesson of twitter-talk? That human intelligence can accommodate only 140 characters at a time? Or that that is the optimum length of a human message? where the limitations of the medium reduce communication to its grittiest essentials. Like I said, this rap wouldn't twitter. Too lengthy. Transitions are what would be the first to go.

It occurrred to me some time ago that the instant communications media provided humanity with something they thought they had lost out on the veldt: constant reassurance from the tribe. Welcome to the Monkey House. The din is incessant. Each screams to its fellows to assure itself of its connection with its tribe. "I am 'someone' and I know to whom it is true."

If I were offered the chance to do another ph.d., I'd do it at the intersection of the 'discursive practices' of the Internet(s) and the Vygotskyian Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). That'd be rich territory for a semiotician/semiologer to mine.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey darlin...
Excellent piece.

"Is that the underlying message/lesson of twitter-talk? That human intelligence can accommodate only 140 characters at a time? Or that that is the optimum length of a human message?"

Yeah... this really resonated w/ me. As someone who is active on facebook where the wall postings are the precursors to the tweet I find myself hoping that the twitter rage doesn't go on much longer. Its just too goddamned teadious. Facebook was loads of fun at first, but it quickly advances from fun to addictive to exhausting. Twitter may be a social marketing fad, but unless people decide to "follow" who ever the hell they are interested in (and how do you possibly keep up with all that you might be interested in) - then ultimately, this form of advertising one's wares (and possibly ideas) will quickly become an exercise in information overload which leads to bordom. Maybe this new generation gets their rocks off in 140 characters or less, I don't know. Maybe they thrive on scrolling through the endless amount of tweets that come in the form of quotes, questions and give-a-ways, but it suggests a certain spiritual and intellectual shallowness (especially with the faddish "cause marketing" amusement activities that entertain the adolecent/ 20 something crowd) that will lead to our social, nevermind economic, breakdown - one that I think is already well underway. With 6000 kids dropping out of school a day in this county, is it any wonder this generation is perpetuating the 140 character message? Can they even delve into critical thought? Frankly, the sooner I can get the hell out of this nuerotic fucking world of trying to convince the morons in the business and governmental sectors to invest in families and children - as a means toward higher educational achievement, the better.The public will just isn't there. Hell with 140 characters, there's no need for grammar, let alone the perpetuation of ideas and reflective discourse. It all sucks and seems pointless for the most part no matter what Wendy Kopp has to say about leadership and talent. The tweet is for twits. -Suz