Tweetle Dee and Tweetle Dumb

The thought occurred, inspired by two Tweets. I had, for a moment, thought to include links to these tweets, which really are not bad links at all, but, if the picture that was included with one of the tweets, on TwitPic, was of me, I would not want it retweeted, nor posted here. The thought that occurred to me was Twitter could become a nasty tool for revenge, or thoughtlessly cause hurt to others, almost too easily.

Have you ever had an argument or fight with someone, and said, or even done something you wish you could take back? Things can happen in a moment of anger. We've all heard stories about passionate loves and lost loves on myspace. We've heard of revenge blogs and retaliatory pictures posted on myspace. And it occurred to me, with myspace, you'd have to sign in, and upload the picture. You'd have to click 'edit' to write anything into your profile, or click the blog icon and post there. It takes at least a minute or two.

With Twitter, people can stay on and signed in 24/7. People can tweet anytime, anywhere, instantly. People can tweet from their mobile devices, Blackberries. Pictures can be loaded to Twit Pic with a click. Mental diarrhea can pour forth from the brain, down the arms, to the fingertips, onto the keyboard, to arrive on the Internet in a flash. Vengeful, knee jerk, angry reactions can suddenly spill over onto Twitter, unguarded and thoughtlessly, before you even have a chance to digest your reactions and think before tweeting.

Just as easily, things we think are funny can now instantly become fodder for the world. It's all to easy to say or do something for the sake of a laugh, (think of the President on Leno) and be sorry for it later. Or even immediately sorry. Twitter provides that same venue for letting the world in on a gaffe, some momentary brain fart, some idiotic faux paus, be it mildly distasteful, slightly more stupid, or horrifically nasty.

I guess, what I'm trying to say is, it's become too easy to hurt someones feelings, and on a much larger scale then just verbally responding to that someone. I guess what I'm trying to say, is let us all be careful of what we post, and about whom we Tweet.

We all remember the old adage, 'Think before you speak'; let us now apply it to this 21st century technology. 'Think before you Tweet'.

Peace, love and light,
LaSal