Tweets and Twits

Top Sites Tuesday has become my Inner Curmudgeon’s day to post, to offer his crusty observations on what’s going on around him, particularly among those with Younger Eyes.  Saturday night as we sat waiting for Neil Diamond to make his appearance on the Greek Theater stage, the two large screens that would be used to show close-ups of Neil for those of us in the nosebleed sections were otherwise employed, displaying the tweets of people waiting for the show.  So, as we sat there in the 90 degree plus heat, we got to read classics like, Here with my wife Suzie.  Cant wait for the show.  Or Cmon Neil rock the house.  I said: Harmless.  My Inner Curmudgeon said: Twits.  The entire social media phenomenon … and Twitter in particular … creates the illusion that everyone should have something to say about everything and that someone out there is interested, an illusion supported by the fact that for athletes and celebrities, at least the latter is true.

Now, even IC knows that seeing your tweets posted on the big screen is harmless enough, even if nobody else cares.   But he also knows … Thought Number One … that ready access to unfiltered media and relative anonymity are sure to bring twits out of the wordwork by giving them an opportunity to do what they do best … appear stupid.  Consider @charlibobsss who, after seeing Titanic 3D, tweeted, Is it bad that I didn’t know the titanic was real? Always thought it was just a film.  Still harmless, right?  But consider what happened shortly after Gabby Douglas won the Gold Medal for all-around gymnastics.  People, most of them African-American, began to tweet criticism of Gabby Douglas’ hair.  Her hair!  A twit at @thats_MYYLane tweeted, Gabby Douglas need to tame the beady beads in the back of her hair lol.  Another, @misDOScentavos, offered, on another note, gabby douglas gotta do something with this hair!  these clips and this brown gel residue ain’t it.  Gabby becomes the first black woman to win all around gymnastics gold and they’re worrying about her hair.  Fortunately, the Twit Tweets were quickly outnumbered by tweets and commentary from responsible people.   BTW, there’s an excellent commentary on the sociological implications of hair among African-American women here … and the best blog post I’ve read on the subject here.

My favorite sports talk host, Colin Cowherd, has been known to say that Twitter is really for celebrities and media types, that nobody cares what the average person has to say.   And sure enough, many celebrities have hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers … to whom they have direct and immediate access.   That’s great for publicity unless they’re twits … then the whole world knows about it.  Sometimes, they just sound dumb, like Paris Hilton did when she tweeted, No, no, I didn’t go to England; I went to London or when Mary J. Blige tweeted, Why is that people always try to understand estimate my intelligents?! They should never do that!   Or they can be stupid and offensive, as Gilbert Gottfried was when, shortly after the Japan Earthquake, he tweeted, I just split up with my girlfriend, but like the Japanese say, ‘They’ll be another one floating by any minute now.”  And sometimes, it’s just plain ignorant.  Football player Roddy White, a Penn State Alumni, tweeted this about the scandal at Penn State: A lot of stuff get swept under the rug at university’s don’t understand why penn state had to tell the media we got a coach rapping kids.   Could it be Roddy thought Sandusky was rappin’ the kids not rapin’ them?  No, he’s just a twit.   Brad Paisley is right … When you’re a celebrity, it’s adios reality:

My mother used to say, Be sure your brain is in gear before you open your mouth.  To which my Inner Curmudgeon would add the modern corollary … and Thought Number 2 … Be sure you’re not being a twit before you tweet.   Also, be sure you push my button … gently … to make me Number One on Top Sites Tuesday #164.   That will prove you’re not a twit.

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