There used to be only a dozen opinion journals in which to publish a political essay, several times more literary quarterlies; there are now hundreds of web platforms with at least some audience; one can, in theory, hone one's craft as a blogger; and one can develop a following on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
For people trying to break into writing or other arts; for queer and other nonconforming people trying to find community and feel less alone; for revolutionaries in oppressive countries-for all sorts of people-social media have been terribly helpful, even life-saving.
Still, their apparent lack of concern was a reminder that the online world was not the whole world, or even a necessarily important one.
They came from the editor of a major conservative magazine, a man who, in my world-the world of media, not the world of West Rock Avenue-is quite well known as a particular kind of antagonist, symptomatic of the degraded age in which we live.
What kind of world is this? Who says things like "Go fuck yourself" to strangers on Twitter?
Imagine if one investment advisor began sending tweets to an advisor at a rival firm, a man he had never met, saying things like, "Go fuck yourself." Imagine if my father, practicing law in Springfield, had read an interview with some other local lawyer in the newspaper and, not liking what the lawyer said, found his address in the yellow pages, scrawled "Go fuck yourself" on a piece of legal paper, and mailed it to him? Would that not be an act of sociopathy, or at least derangement? Would we take such a person seriously in public discourse?
Will the Christian editor John Wilson still seem cerebral and witty? Will New Yorker critic Emily Nussbaum give me TV-watching advice if I email her, or call her, or even write her a letter? And what of the editor who told me to go fuck myself? If we meet, will he be as monstrous and unforgiving as his Twitter self? Part of me wishes so, because it can be satisfying to have one's first impressions confirmed.
https://newrepublic.com/article/147276/death-civility-digital-age
For people trying to break into writing or other arts; for queer and other nonconforming people trying to find community and feel less alone; for revolutionaries in oppressive countries-for all sorts of people-social media have been terribly helpful, even life-saving.
Still, their apparent lack of concern was a reminder that the online world was not the whole world, or even a necessarily important one.
They came from the editor of a major conservative magazine, a man who, in my world-the world of media, not the world of West Rock Avenue-is quite well known as a particular kind of antagonist, symptomatic of the degraded age in which we live.
What kind of world is this? Who says things like "Go fuck yourself" to strangers on Twitter?
Imagine if one investment advisor began sending tweets to an advisor at a rival firm, a man he had never met, saying things like, "Go fuck yourself." Imagine if my father, practicing law in Springfield, had read an interview with some other local lawyer in the newspaper and, not liking what the lawyer said, found his address in the yellow pages, scrawled "Go fuck yourself" on a piece of legal paper, and mailed it to him? Would that not be an act of sociopathy, or at least derangement? Would we take such a person seriously in public discourse?
Will the Christian editor John Wilson still seem cerebral and witty? Will New Yorker critic Emily Nussbaum give me TV-watching advice if I email her, or call her, or even write her a letter? And what of the editor who told me to go fuck myself? If we meet, will he be as monstrous and unforgiving as his Twitter self? Part of me wishes so, because it can be satisfying to have one's first impressions confirmed.
https://newrepublic.com/article/147276/death-civility-digital-age
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