Remember AOL? You could get the disc almost everywhere. I remember installing that and listening as the computer dialed up the internet. It was an amazing thing. Soon you heard those words, "you've got mail." Remember having to monitor your usage so as to avoid charges, you only had so much on you plan. Ah, the good old days. Those were also the days of the chat rooms. People had "handles" much like they did during the CB craze. I never had one though, not with the CB or with AOL chat rooms. I did enjoy sipping some fine bourbon in the evening hours and chatting it up however. I was amused. Amused that some of those folks expected me to believe this or that, amused by their opinions and observations. It was like the wild west of the internet!
Then it all changed. I'm not certain when that happened. The chats rooms disappeared, I guess and so did AOL. Google took the internet by storm. You didn't need to dial up anymore either, it was direct connection, sort of. We all began to talk about modems, routers and bytes and mega-bytes. Speed, we got the need for speed. Blazing fast internet! It's still a topic and a selling point today. It seemed like everyone went farming. Farmville was the thing! My wife did that, but I didn't participate in that at all. But the farms all went out of business, swallowed up by the corporate giants. Facebook appeared, social media. Remember before that it was just chat rooms, now it is media platforms! There are a ton of them too.
Twitter. I created a twitter account some years back figuring to see what all the excitement was about. People were hash tagging and following! Celebrities were tweeting tweets and getting the word out. I believe I sent one tweet, haven't tweeted since. I can only assume my account is still there somewhere, they say it stays forever in the digital world. Gee, hope it isn't on Hunters laptop! And now, Twitter has been sold to Elon Musk. People are expecting big changes. Well, they are expecting to be able to say whatever they like on there. A return to the chat room format? Creating quite a stir, free speech and all. Of course, Elon can decide what is allowed or not, it's now his game. The liberal folks are all upset because now they don't get to decide that. The alternative facts may not be an alternative after all. That could create a problem. Well, the pendulum swings both ways.
The thing is this. Twitter, Facebook, AOL chat rooms, whatever they call them exist for one purpose, entertainment. You can talk all you want about social discourse, the sharing of opinions and knowledge. Still, the bottom line is, it is entertaining. When it no longer entertains you, you no longer participate. Like old video games that you have mastered, they are set aside and forgotten about. Remember when everyone was leaving Facebook? Few left, and of the ones that did, most are back. It's entertaining. Now people are saying they are leaving twitter. Some will. It's the same problem all over again. People are threatening to leave because others are saying things they don't want to hear. No different than the kids you avoided in grade school because they were mean. Yeah, much the same thing.
Now social media has become somewhat of an influencer. That's a big problem. Too many people getting their "education" from social media platforms. In the old days it was the evening news, people like Walter Cronkite and David Brinkley. There were those that trusted and believed everything those men said. They did refrain from offering their opinions in most cases. They offered facts. Prior to that, it was newspapers. Remember when the New York Times was a prestigious publication, trusted and revered? Well, not so much today as profits, just remaining profitable, has become the primary focus. That's why you read the nonsense that they print today, it is written to appeal to the urban crowd. Yes, the liberal minded folks.
The internet now offers unlimited resources for research. Whoever controls that research will control the narrative. Unfortunately, the majority of the public will not do any research at all. That's because, generally speaking, it is the way we were raised. Listen to the teacher, learn the topic, and repeat what you were taught. We all hated the "essay" questions because we had to think about that stuff. No, multiple choice was the way to go, just remember what you were told as the proper response. Usually, four choices were offered. Two of them you could eliminate right off, they were stupid. The other two were possible answers, can you remember what you were told? It had to be exactly what the teacher said.
This internet stuff, Facebook, Twitter, and all the others offer too many choices! The battle is to eliminate those other choices, to get the "correct" responses out there. Content moderation is not censorship! That's what I hear often. Content moderation is the definition of censorship! Saying things that others don't agree with will always be met with resistance! You could get excommunicated from the Catholic church for saying things contrary to their belief, I think you still can. Content moderation, sometimes also known as, doubt.
Will the new twitter really be different? Will you be able to simply post whatever you like? Will free speech destroy the country? No. The whole thing is about money, making money, and control. Musk didn't just buy twitter all by himself. He has others with him. The others are called, wait for it, investors. What do you suppose they are investing in? Free speech, apple pie and the American way? No, they figure to make a profit from this investment. And the bottom line is, as long as it remains a source of entertainment it will remain profitable.
That will be true even if it becomes a paid subscription service. Don't think so? There are many people that are low income, below income, basically flat broke. Those same people still buy alcohol, cigarettes and dope! They always have money for entertainment! And the fact is, we are all that way to a degree. Subscribe to streaming services, pay for "cloud" usage, buy fast cars or classic cars, hobby supplies, big macs or whatever. We go to the movies, take vacations, whatever. The point is we all will pay to be entertained in some fashion. Who are the highest paid people? Entertainers.
Those old AOL chat rooms used to entertain me. Didn't cost a thing except for that internet connection. It was the wild west of the internet. Never did I get offended or traumatized, or bullied. I simply didn't chat with those that I didn't agree with, or argued with them, just for fun. Yeah, that can be fun too. Let's bring that back, where is America on Line? Yeah I remember party lines on the telephone too, what fun, until you needed to make a call anyway. Could you please get off the line, this call is important. How do you think that question would be answered today?
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