Weird Twitter by Dsquarius

‘Weird Twitter’
-@OprahWinfrey69 (D’Squarius)

I rarely take anything in life, let alone the Internet and social media, too seriously but I feel that this needs to be said in more than 140 characters. Rather than making this some perfectly crafted zeitgeist comprised of all of my philosophies and thoughts on the subject, I want to state what I feel a lot of smaller weird twitter accounts have been experiencing. Hopefully it’s not too verbose or formal. I don’t mean to put words in your mouth so feel free to disagree – and tell me if you do. If you feel as if I’m calling you out then it’s probably for a good reason. If you think I’m here to argue who and what is Weird Twitter than you’re wasting your time reading this. Not here to demarcate any associations with what people commonly call the comedy sweatshop of the Internet. If you feel I am a faggot for complaining about this and writing this, then you’re entitled to your opinion. But I digress…
After taking a break from Twitter, I was discussing with one of my best friends Lukas (@MrGynosaur) a realization that we both came to in regards to something we’ve invested a lot of time in. I’ve met so many great people, online and in person, because of Twitter that I am really thankful I stumbled into this when I did. In fact, Lukas and I would probably not be friends unless we had met over Twitter. Same with Tessa, Sam, and a few other really fucking cool people that are now in my life. It’s amazing to be able to come to a place and write nonsense and stupid yet creatively hilarious jokes that make me laugh for hours on end and helped me get through a really rough patch in my life last year.

However, one thing we discussed really resonated with me and has been bothering me for quite a long time and I know a lot of people will tend to agree just from some of the DMs and responses I got. The “twitter elite” on here that consists of many people with more than 10,000 or so followers, is overwhelmingly dominated by a sense of exclusivity and elitism that is truly aggravating. Mike Delaney Jr. is an example of someone that will talk to you like you’re a piece of shit if you don’t have a high follower count, responding in very short and pointed remarks that serve to belittle you. I hate to call him out because he’s never done this to me specifically, but I’ve seen him do this to smaller accounts and it’s just a bit disturbing that (as Rad Raccoon put it) a community that is its own fan base can be so disrespectful to the very people that made it possible. As I said, in the end you have a Twitter account, not some ticket to being a self-absorbed prick riding high on your follower count and Twitter addiction. It’s meant to be a fun place to tell jokes, guys, not some cast system with the masses as undesirables, which many of the top echelon refuse to respond to or immediately jump out of character and berate because you’re considered a “nobody” to them. We all started at 0 followers, please remember that.

Weird Twitter isn’t some high school lunch room with Kyle Lippert or Mike Delaney or Brian Essbe at the head of the cool table and a bunch of Melvins at his feet begging for an invite to his kegger that coming Friday night. Yet, somehow, these guys (and I’m not just talking about them, not by a long shot) tend to act like they are the last Coca Cola in the desert so to speak. It’s not some clique driven culture of a bunch of wannabes emulating the more successful characters on here (which it sadly has become). Well, at least it’s not supposed to be that. To quote what I said earlier I truly feel as if, “You guys are blind. Some of these people you worship on here don't give a shit about you and chose to treat you like scum.” Feel free to disagree with me but it’s definitely true, it just depends on perspective and whether you realized how ridiculous this actually is. It doesn’t mean they are pricks or bad people in most cases, it probably means that their minor Weird Twitter celebrity status has gone to their heads and created some very unkind people and an environment that I frankly don’t want to be around.
I got in a bit of an argument with Kyle Lippert earlier over this, and I didn’t mean to insult you Kyle I was just trying to use an example. Accept my apology, but know when you and Mike often talk about how teens should get off of Twitter, you’re bound to make a lot of younger guys that look up to you feel like shit. I have no idea if this is an extension of your insecurities in person, but please just take a moment to think about what I’m saying or just read this commentary in its context. I don’t really appreciate Kyle, Mike, and whoever this Essbe guy is ganging up on me and belittling me for stating what I feel about their group, but what can you do when you’re the one to call them out in the first place, lol. Thanks to Bucky for actually taking a moment to read what I wrote on this subject and giving a valid response with both sides in mind.

 I would also like to say this is definitely not true when it comes to many great people on Weird Twitter that makes me laugh daily. Only a portion (and I’d like to think a minority) act that way. Eric O’Brien, David Hughes, Queso, TheJakesHenry, Andy’s Emojination, Bucky Isotope, Fear Night with Hawk, and many more are just the most incredible people that despite having a lot of followers they always seem to remain humble and have a level head. These guys are just scratching the surface when it comes to many of the prodigious people with even fewer followers that would take me 30 pages to mention here. You know who you are.

Another recent trend that I have seen lately that has been even more troublesome to me is the problem with rape jokes and the retaliation against people who have made them even far in the past. Most notably, the issue with Eric Obrien/Brotato and Weedcoffin, as well as David Hughes and the antagonist Michael Hudson. I can say that my time here on Twitter has been made a lot more fun because of David and Eric and what they made are jokes, it’s incredible to me and beyond my understanding that we say so much offensive shit about killing, mass disasters, terrorism, 9/11, the Zimmerman case, and on and on and on that it’s these jokes SOMEHOW cross the line when all of the others don’t? Are you fucking serious? Why do we make the point of labeling people as rapists and offenders when clearly none of them have ever been convicted of such and they are just making JOKES. Please be clear I don’t think they are at all tasteful and are very offensive especially when targeted at specific users, but remember that Weird Twitter is one of the last places left among social media sites worth spending time on that isn’t really censored. What is even worse is some of these large accounts have an almost cult-like following where if you disagree with them on ANY point, you automatically hear from at least 1,000 other people about what a shitty person you are for disagreeing with their lord and savior. As Alex Miller pointed out, who really has his head on straight with all of this, it seems like these larger brands feel as if they can police others and tell them what is right and wrong. If it is David Hughes’ way of dealing with what he endured as a child, then so be it. Let him. Because it’s for damn sure that he’s probably a stronger person than you as a result of what he’s gone through, and externalizing traumatic events is an excellent way of dealing with them. It’s a way to seek some sense when you’re still learning to love yourself again. It may be funny to some, and offensive to others. But that’s the cool thing about Twitter… you can say what you feel and say what you want without persecution (*cough* *cough* most of the time), and as long as you’re not a discriminatory jerk about it, well then we can keep it enjoyable and fun for everybody? Isn’t that the point anyway?

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If you read and liked what I wrote here, please favorite the tweet that linked it or if you hate my guts because of it, then respond and tell me what an asshole I am. Either way I want to hear what you guys think regarding these two main points of interest. I’m considering leaving Twitter for a while if not permanently, don’t plan to deactivate but to me after some key people left it isn’t very fun anymore. Nor do I think I’ve made any great tweets. I’ll be around though for any of you who care, feel free to DM or text me anytime guys. Thanks.