Anyhow, I read today in the New Yorker a talk of the town piece about the H1N1 virus and vaccine. I came across this not-so-great example of how to use twitter if you are a celebrity:
Last week, the political pundit Bill Maher dispatched a communiqué to his fifty-six thousand followers on Twitter: “If u get a swine flu shot ur an idiot.”Not so great Bill, on form or substance. This virus is a real threat, and I have little patience for those who fearmonger about the vaccine. But it's also an obnoxiously juvenile way to talk about an important issue.
He could have said it on his TV show as well. But I wonder if Twitter in some way encourages people to be punchy, blunt, crude, etc. just because of the 140-word constraint. I'm not trying to slam twitter, and I think we've said enough about it. But given our penchant as Americans to shun dialogue and discussion about complex issues, I can't help feeling that Twitter enables this unfortunate tendency.
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