To follow or not to follow

My friend and colleague, Sam Bradley, has introduced me to the sometimes mundane, sometimes astonishing world of Twitter. Sam's recent post on the etiquette of following others on Twitter expresses a view of Twitterquette with which I essentially agree.

I'm not writing this post to convince anyone to explore this relatively new social medium, my own experience with it has been rewarding, but I realize it's not for everyone. Whether you do or don't Twitter is your business, dear readers.

But I just blocked someone on Twitter for the first time, and the circumstances seem to me to capture something about our present cultural moment. Someone added me to their follow list, and I added this person back, usually open to the possibilities. That I disagreed with some tweets did not bother me in the least, I follow lots of people I disagree with, it's a good way to learn a thing or two.

The next morning, I received a Direct Message from this person, not in any way personalized, just a link with a politically provocative description involving imminent civil war in the U.S. Having been on the losing end of the last couple of Presidential elections, and having gradually become convinced the 43rd President will be remembered among our nation's worst ever, I still felt like I managed not to be a sore loser. Lots of sore losers this year, fine, everyone's entitled to their opinion.

The following morning, I received a similar Direct Message with another link, still not in any way addressed to me. Then I discovered that both links had been tweeted by this person, so that any followers could see them. What then was the purpose of duplicating the link directly, except to insist I stop what I was doing and read what someone wanted me to read. BLOCK!

It's like a neighbor knocking on the door or ringing the bell unannounced. First try is neighborly. Second and third try are simply refusals to accept no for an answer. It's like people who talk through movies in theaters as though no one else is there, something regular readers know makes me crazy. So I don't go to the movies much, and that makes me sad. When did we all forget simple good manners?

I include myself in that rhetorical question, it's a broad cultural problem. I suggest we heed the words of the late George Carlin and try to "Be excellent to each other." If excellent is asking too much, how about just considerate?