TWITTER/SOCIAL MEDIA

I didn’t have a twitter account before this assignment, and in turn felt like one of the last people on earth without one, so when I finally created an account the first person on my to-follow-list was Kanye West. I always appreciated his ability to have an ego that completely extinguish any sort of positive image the general public might have of him, while periodically creating music that makes nearly every other modern recording artist sound anemic by comparison. It’s that perfect blend of rock-stupid arrogance and undeniable brilliance that you’re just not going to get anywhere else. So it’s understandable why I’m disappointed to find that his twitter feed consists mostly of insipid inspirational messages, and photos of his clothing line. Yeezus works in mysterious ways.

After that, I wanted to follow an account that actually offered useful information instead of gratuitous displays of vanity. So, I started following The Washington Post. I have a history of shying away from news channels and websites, and hopefully this will help me become a less willfully ignorant person. Who Knows, I may finally learn what’s going on in the real world, god forbid.

Finally, I retreated back into my escapist nature and started following Metacritic. There’s something about the quality of art being measured in terms of percentage approval that comforts me. It’s like the website is somehow satisfying both the artistic and analytical sides of my brain at the same time. Also, it helps me bitch about the reviews I don’t agree with, because immaturity is fun.

A tweet that really caught my eye was from The Washington Post on October 5^th that read, “How Coca-Cola has tricked everyone into drinking so much of it”. The tweet had an intriguing effect on me, in that it made me look down suspiciously at the half empty can of Coke I was holding at the time. I think it’s the first time in my life I’ve ever been mistrustful of an inanimate object. The article the tweet linked to focuses on the parallels between the soda industry and the cigarette industry, because they both use clever marketing and the addictive nature of their product to make billions. It made me so shocked that I almost didn’t drink the rest of the can. I did though, because I’m an awful person.

I wasn’t exactly the best high school student. In fact, it’s safe to say that I was the antithesis of what my teachers would have wanted, not because I was disrespectful or unintelligent, but because I never showed up. I ended up missing about half the school days junior year, and partially because of this, I became a bit anti-social. This is the main reason why I’ve never had a Facebook. I didn’t have one in high school, and simply continue not to have one now. However, this doesn’t mean I obsessively rant against social networking sites. I understand the importance of displaying public opinion, and am confident that many social changes in the last ten years likely wouldn’t have occurred without the help of Facebook. This includes the election of Barack Obama, and the lift of the ban on same-sex marriage.