Web Analytics
Stop Being So Mean To The People Who Run Twitter, You Guys!
Pajiba Logo
Old School. Biblically Independent.

Stop Being So Mean To The People Who Run Twitter, You Guys!

By Brian Richards | Social Media | October 2, 2017

talking on twitter.jpg

There was a time when we could all go to sleep, wake up the following morning, and not have to concern ourselves with what the President of the United States has been saying on Twitter.

There was a time when the President of the United States didn’t cause us all to worry and wonder about the future of the human race every single time he opened his mouth while standing before a microphone or used 140 characters to express his thoughts.

There was a time when the President of the United States wasn’t a complete dumbass whose very presence in the Oval Office didn’t make us stop at least once during the day and wonder whether our reality is real and not part of the Sideways Universe from Lost. Whose very presence in the Oval Office didn’t make us ask ourselves far too often, “How the fuck did this happen?”

That time has come and gone. And Donald Trump is seemingly determined to remind us of this at least once a day, every day.

Yesterday afternoon, a poll was created by Mule Design co-founder/design director Mike Monteiro on Twitter to ask whether or not anyone would be interested in watching a debate between himself and Twitter co-founder Biz Stone as to whether or not President Donald Trump (the man who thinks that people who oppose and speak out against White supremacists are just as bad as White supremacists themselves, the man who cares more about attending golf tournaments than he does about helping the people of Puerto Rico recover from the monumental and life-altering damages caused by Hurricane Maria, the man who’d rather dedicate golf tournaments to the people of Puerto Rico than travel down to Puerto Rico and actually meet them in person to find out what can be done to help them stay alive and rebuild their lives/homes/businesses, the man who spends more time on a microphone acting like Happy Harry Hard-On from Pump Up The Volume than an actual President, excluding the fact that Harry was actually smart, charming, and gave a shit about people other than himself) should have his Twitter account shut down once and for all.

There were several people who doubted that the people who run Twitter, Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone, would even respond to this as they rarely feel the need to say or respond to anything on Twitter, unless it has to do with announcing yet another change to Twitter that absolutely nobody asked for and that nobody actually wants.

And yet, for some mysterious reason, Biz Stone decided that now was the time to speak up and let his voice be heard. When all that did was make everyone wonder why he didn’t just keep his mouth shut.

Many of the reactions and responses to his tweet looked a little something like this…

the fuck you just say.gif

And this…

EXCUSE ME.gif

And this…

Batman's enemies are judging you.gif

And especially this…

are you kidding me 3.gif

And that was when many of the people who use Twitter, particularly women … women who have been bullied and harassed on Twitter and who constantly see and read about other women being bullied and harassed on Twitter … women who have repeatedly let Twitter know about the bullying/harassment/blatant racism and sexism taking place on their website only to be told that absolutely nothing was wrong and that they shouldn’t be saying anything in the first place … women whose complaints about bullying/harassment/blatant racism and sexism end up being completely ignored unless said women are famous and well-known and are able to let the world (and also much of the news media) know what they’ve been forced to deal with, decided to let him know how much of a catastrofuck he created for himself with that particular tweet:

As the responses kept pouring in, Biz once again spoke up to defend himself, while also letting people know that Twitter has many protective measures for them such as Muting, Blocking, and filing reports, and that it was their responsibility to put them to use in order to improve their user experience.

You can just imagine how well that response was received …


The people who run Twitter have shown, time and time again, that they are more interested in punishing people who say mean things to Nazis/White supremacists/misogynistic trolls/GamerGaters/many other people who think that ‘cuck’ is an appropriate insult than they are in punishing anyone from those groups by locking or deleting their accounts. If only because many of the people who use Twitter and allow it to appear profitable come from those very same groups.

And yet, much to the disappointment of Twitter and its founders, none of this has made the company appealing to any and all potential buyers. Neither Google, Apple, or Disney is interested in taking out their checkbooks to purchase Twitter and call it their own, probably because they’d rather focus their attention and their money on creating yet another streaming service that would give Netflix and Hulu a run for their money. That, and Google is still licking its wounds over the fact that Google Plus went the way of the Microsoft Zune.

It also doesn’t help that Twitter has clearly become the chosen method of communication for Donald Trump (hence the refusal of Twitter to delete his tweets about North Korea, due to the fact they’re so ‘newsworthy’). So much so that his image has been used in advertisements for Twitter outside of the United States, such as this one (though the accompanying tweets question the translation of the advertisements, as well as whether or not they are currently being displayed):

When I previously wrote that many of us worry and wonder about the future of the human race every time that Trump tweets or opens his mouth while standing in front of a microphone … I wasn’t kidding. And I can think of better ways for Twitter to be put to use and for Twitter to increase its appeal to others than by treating the 45th President and the words that come out of his mouth as if he’s Howard Stern back in the Eighties and as if all of this is some kind of summer blockbuster for us to sit on the edge of our seats in anticipation for.

This isn’t a game, and none of this (not from Trump or any other bully/liar/rapist/racist/con artist/complete fucking idiot) is fun or exciting or amusing, and going out of your way to seemingly beam with pride because your website is being used as a microphone by people making harmful, reckless, and downright terrifying statements for the world to see isn’t something you should be happy to put on your resumé.

I look forward to the day (and I know it’s asking for a lot and that the day may never come, especially considering how much fuckboy behavior they’ve ignored and continue to ignore so far) when Biz Stone, Jack Dorsey, and everyone else who calls the shots over at Twitter will hopefully spend less time worrying about their feelings or about how to add 280 characters to tweets instead of 140 (because that’s what Trump and his ilk need and deserve: more space to spew their hateful bullshit at others!), and more time focusing on the people who use their website, rely on their services, and are forced to worry about their physical, emotional, and psychological well-being on a regular basis all because the people who call the shots over at Twitter don’t actually feel like doing their jobs and doing everything possible to protect them and keep them safe from harm whenever they decide to tweet.

And I’m guessing that the women whose voices have been ignored by them for far too long feel the very same way, if not more so.

_____________

Brian Richards recently had his Twitter account locked for cursing out the New York Post. But they were getting way too slick at the mouth when talking about Beyoncé, so they pretty much had it coming.