If you’re in the market for a new crossover, researching and comparing models like the 2019 Chevy Trax vs 2019 Kia Soul, we commend you for performing your due diligence prior to making any final decision. There are plenty of reliable resources out there, online and across social media, empowering your choice with both technical specs and consumer insights. But what about Twitter?
Well… To paraphrase The Lion King, Twitter is a shadowy place and you must never go there if you’re looking for facts. Hell, we have to question half of the opinions we see on Twitter which – honestly – makes us pine for a simpler time (a world without Twitter, if you will…).
It’s been almost a decade since the question “what would the world be like without Twitter” was first raised, empowering the social media community to acknowledge the changing state of the world since the original advent of 140-character mental diarrhea. But times have changed (and Twitter users get 280-characters now) so it’s no surprise that #InaWorldWithoutTwitter resurfaced among April trending. But rather than a nostalgic look back at a simpler time unburdened by the weight of the tweet (whatever that actually equates to), the resurrected hashtag seemed to highlight some of the modern attributes we should be less proud of.
Some of the observations recognized Twitter’s role in politics.
Some cast a wider net, acknowledging the more mundane elements of social media.
Others chose to shine a spotlight on the influential nature of the medium.
While some pointed out social media’s negative impact on interpersonal relationships.
And others chose to posit on what users might be missing out on by favoring screen-time.
In a world where a twenty-something American might simultaneously compose tweets regarding (i) their love of a democratic socialist upstart (ii) the need for a reduction in voting age to 16 and (iii) their own inability or lack of desire to ‘adult’, it should be no surprise that the bad outweighs the good on Twitter. And since the blame hardly rests on the shoulders of a single demographic, are we really surprised that the hashtag yielded content more problematic than reassuring.
But we’re not here to pick on Twitter users. We’re not here to pick on millennials, or even the DS movement. We’re here to pick on Twitter user @far_from_basic_brittni a user who chose to close out her Twitter account after being assaulted with (what she called) ‘hurtful truths’.
Like all good Twitter stories (if there actually is such a thing) it started with a tweet; specifically one from April 17th which simply read, “Hey y’all. Thinking of either a #2019ChevyTrax or a #2019KiaSoul. Help a girl out.”
Harmless enough, right?
Well, it would have been, and it not been for the fact that people are assholes and Twitter provides them with a public platform. Automotive enthusiast users shamed her for her choice in vehicles. Southern U.S. based users criticized the “Yankee bitch” for using their vernacular, despite being from New England. Feminist users bludgeoned her for “setting the movement back” with the phrase “help a girl out” which sparked backlash by other groups criticizing feminists for assuming her gender. Nationalist users criticized her for considering a Korean automobile. Korean users criticized her for considering anything in addition to a Korean automobile. Members of the UAW criticized simultaneously criticized her for both (i) potentially taking their jobs away and (ii) making them work. Users with intravenous addiction issues piggy-backed on the tweet with claims that ‘Trax’ was insensitive to the addict community. And don’t even get us started on the field day white savior SJW’s had with her brazen use of the word ‘soul’.
They then began to attack her other social media profiles, slandering Instagram posts, spamming her all-but idle Facebook wall and publicly shaming her with a counterfeit Snapchat profile (with the username ‘BasicBrittniChappedSnatch’) All because she used Twitter to ask for help in making a major life choice.
So the next time you’re thinking about what could happen #InAWorldWithNoTwitter recognize that life could be a lot simpler, and a lot more safe for personal exploration. Just ask Brittni, if you happen to be visiting the 3rd Floor Psychiatric Ward at Henri Heywood Memorial Hospital in Gardner, MA.
