Twits on the Right: Day 4 – Spinning Themselves Dizzy
Being new to Twitter, I recently decided to spend a few days following some of the right wing tweets, primarily those with the hash tags #gop and #tcot (top conservatives on twitter). As an unapologetic liberal, I thought it might be easier to stomach right wing commentary if it came in snippets of 140 characters or less.
The strongest and most vehement opposition to President Obama and his policies come from what I call Rapture-ready Republicans. The basis for their dislike (some would say hatred) of the President is not fact-based, but is a stubbornly held belief that Obama is an anathema to all that is American.
When one looks at the top conservatives’ posts on Twitter, and follows the links provided, as I’ve been doing for the past week, a picture emerges of a highly entrenched group of well-intentioned but fearful people led by a smaller group of people who seem to exist solely to fan the flames of hatred – whether it be racial, cultural or political.
I am obviously over-simplifying a broad swath of the population, and there are certainly other dynamics at play on #tcot and other Twitter hangouts. However, the main drivers of right wing discussion in the Twitterverse are actors and reactors – those who post stories and links, and those who repeat (or retweet) them.
The actors, those who stoke the fires of anger and dislike among the base, rely on a steady stream of inaccurate and misleading articles on the web. The reactors’ role is to either parrot the original tweets unquestioningly or to dutifully follow the links and consume.
As with the birthers I wrote about yesterday, if one looks at their assertions with a critical eye, or simply bothers to fact check, the theories are almost 100% hyperbole, about as solid as tissue paper.
Some examples stemming from the current health care legislation debate:
“Hurray for gov’t health care. UK’s death sentence for 22yo liver patient.”* Link
Anyone who passes away in Canada or the UK is now being held up as a “victim” of socialized medicine. Since everyone dies eventually, cherry-picking the most sensational examples provides “stokers” with a regular source of outrage about the dangers of national health care systems.
“Obamas Plan Would Repeal Medicare if you or someone you love is a senior, get them busy!“*
Link offers no specifics or language from any healthcare legislation, only speculation about “likely” outcomes, fearmongering about rationing of services and comparisons to Canada’s system.
Oh, and the authors are hawking a book. Related tweets linking to an article in the NY Post by the same authors:
“Ensuring Insurance For Illegal Aliens, While Rationing #Heathcare For Everyone Else In America“*
“Health Care Bill Outlaws Private Insurance, Benefits Illegal Immigrants“*
Many of the healthcare-related tweets carry a simple message, that Obama’s plan will grant coverage to other “undeserving” populations by taking it away from you, your family, and the elderly. Taking fear-mongering one step further, some twits claim that there is an eugenic element to the plan, aka DEATHCARE in wingnut speak (and almost always in all caps).
Tweet directed at Glenn Beck: “Will O-care really become a form of adult eugenics based on cost and economic/genetic value of an individual to society?“*
It demonstrates how poorly informed the fears are that I frequently encounter tweets worried about eugenic campaigns against the elderly. Since eugenicists historically are concerned with selective breeding, focusing on senior citizens would have zero practical impact since they are generally past reproductive age.
Other strawmen trumpeted in the twittosphere suggest that Obama will repeal the Second Amendment, that the current Hate Crimes bill will lead to discrimination against Christians, or that Obama spent more than 18 months campaigning, and spent millions of dollars getting elected just so that he could destroy the United States.
“No, no, you don’t underSTAND, Obama’s goal IS to ruin America then to bankrupt America.“*
Some of these tweets can be easily disproved by a simple Google search or with common sense. Other assertions are harder to prove or disprove, since they hinge on the poster’s (unproven) ability to read minds or foretell the future. So if presenting factual information isn’t the primary motivation, what is the point?
Many tweets provide links to websites that are selling products, so greed is certainly one motive. For $3.95 you can have a piece of paper proclaiming you a “czar”, promotes one twit.
Other tweeters hype the sensationalistic aspects of stories as a way of driving traffic (and market share) to wingnut icons like Glenn Beck, G. Gordon Liddy or Rush Limbaugh.
Conservative politicians are also using Twitter to communicate with their rabid base, no doubt steering donations to their campaigns in the process by constantly reinforcing the idea that they are an entrenched and oppressed political minority.
And living in some Red Dawn-styled fantasy, these twits cast themselves as the only ones standing between the United States and its destruction.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 8:07 am and is filed under Commentary, Culture, Life, Media, Obama, Politics, Tech.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Twits on the Right: Day 4 – Spinning Themselves Dizzy
Being new to Twitter, I recently decided to spend a few days following some of the right wing tweets, primarily those with the hash tags #gop and #tcot (top conservatives on twitter). As an unapologetic liberal, I thought it might be easier to stomach right wing commentary if it came in snippets of 140 characters or less.
The strongest and most vehement opposition to President Obama and his policies come from what I call Rapture-ready Republicans. The basis for their dislike (some would say hatred) of the President is not fact-based, but is a stubbornly held belief that Obama is an anathema to all that is American.
When one looks at the top conservatives’ posts on Twitter, and follows the links provided, as I’ve been doing for the past week, a picture emerges of a highly entrenched group of well-intentioned but fearful people led by a smaller group of people who seem to exist solely to fan the flames of hatred – whether it be racial, cultural or political.
I am obviously over-simplifying a broad swath of the population, and there are certainly other dynamics at play on #tcot and other Twitter hangouts. However, the main drivers of right wing discussion in the Twitterverse are actors and reactors – those who post stories and links, and those who repeat (or retweet) them.
The actors, those who stoke the fires of anger and dislike among the base, rely on a steady stream of inaccurate and misleading articles on the web. The reactors’ role is to either parrot the original tweets unquestioningly or to dutifully follow the links and consume.
As with the birthers I wrote about yesterday, if one looks at their assertions with a critical eye, or simply bothers to fact check, the theories are almost 100% hyperbole, about as solid as tissue paper.
Some examples stemming from the current health care legislation debate:
“Hurray for gov’t health care. UK’s death sentence for 22yo liver patient.”* Link
Anyone who passes away in Canada or the UK is now being held up as a “victim” of socialized medicine. Since everyone dies eventually, cherry-picking the most sensational examples provides “stokers” with a regular source of outrage about the dangers of national health care systems.
“Obamas Plan Would Repeal Medicare if you or someone you love is a senior, get them busy!“*
Link offers no specifics or language from any healthcare legislation, only speculation about “likely” outcomes, fearmongering about rationing of services and comparisons to Canada’s system.
Oh, and the authors are hawking a book. Related tweets linking to an article in the NY Post by the same authors:
“Ensuring Insurance For Illegal Aliens, While Rationing #Heathcare For Everyone Else In America“*
“Health Care Bill Outlaws Private Insurance, Benefits Illegal Immigrants“*
Many of the healthcare-related tweets carry a simple message, that Obama’s plan will grant coverage to other “undeserving” populations by taking it away from you, your family, and the elderly. Taking fear-mongering one step further, some twits claim that there is an eugenic element to the plan, aka DEATHCARE in wingnut speak (and almost always in all caps).
Tweet directed at Glenn Beck: “Will O-care really become a form of adult eugenics based on cost and economic/genetic value of an individual to society?“*
It demonstrates how poorly informed the fears are that I frequently encounter tweets worried about eugenic campaigns against the elderly. Since eugenicists historically are concerned with selective breeding, focusing on senior citizens would have zero practical impact since they are generally past reproductive age.
Other strawmen trumpeted in the twittosphere suggest that Obama will repeal the Second Amendment, that the current Hate Crimes bill will lead to discrimination against Christians, or that Obama spent more than 18 months campaigning, and spent millions of dollars getting elected just so that he could destroy the United States.
“No, no, you don’t underSTAND, Obama’s goal IS to ruin America then to bankrupt America.“*
Some of these tweets can be easily disproved by a simple Google search or with common sense. Other assertions are harder to prove or disprove, since they hinge on the poster’s (unproven) ability to read minds or foretell the future. So if presenting factual information isn’t the primary motivation, what is the point?
Many tweets provide links to websites that are selling products, so greed is certainly one motive. For $3.95 you can have a piece of paper proclaiming you a “czar”, promotes one twit.
Other tweeters hype the sensationalistic aspects of stories as a way of driving traffic (and market share) to wingnut icons like Glenn Beck, G. Gordon Liddy or Rush Limbaugh.
Conservative politicians are also using Twitter to communicate with their rabid base, no doubt steering donations to their campaigns in the process by constantly reinforcing the idea that they are an entrenched and oppressed political minority.
And living in some Red Dawn-styled fantasy, these twits cast themselves as the only ones standing between the United States and its destruction.
Next: Responses and Conclusions
*Actual tweets
Tags: spin, twitter, wingnut
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 8:07 am and is filed under Commentary, Culture, Life, Media, Obama, Politics, Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.