People Behaving on TikTok

Greetings all!

I have not had much to say about social media since I left Twitter about a year ago. You can read about my reasoning HERE, but in short, I left because I was utterly appalled at the behavior of irrational, self-righteous, agenda-driven ideologues who refused to ponder the notion that there might be a perspective worthy of consideration that didn’t necessarily align with theirs. Some of these folks are prominent historians, whose work I otherwise respect. But they kinda failed at being open-minded and objective. I’m not going to name names…there’s really no point in dredging up past animosity – so if you think I am talking about you, you are probably right. Anyway…I hope you’ve worked out your anger issues.      
 
Now that the Twitter experience is growing more and more distant in the rear-view mirror, I’ve decided to try my hand on another platform – so friends, I am now a newb on TikTok. That’s right. TikTok. I took my time getting around to this – thinking it was an enormous waste of time and really not much more than a platform for teenagers to perform asinine dances. But, my wife, Coni, who is infinitely smarter and more intuitive than I, suggested that I was missing a huge audience and encouraged me just to see what might happen if I offered some short takes on historical topics. I’ve been there for a few weeks, have amassed a few hundred followers, gotten thousands of video views, and a good deal of engagement.    
 
Of course, whenever one posts about topics of historical import, there will be folks of all ideological stripes ready and willing to go on the attack. In short order, my videos on such topics as Constitutional law and the Lost Cause were met with comments ranging from baseless assertions entirely unsupported with evidence to “hit and run” trolls calling me a dolt, an asshole, or simply full of shit. Ah yes….the familiar world of social media. But instead of bailing, I took control of the space, deleted comments, and blocked anyone using demeaning language or engaging in irrational argumentative practices. That’s right, I came up with some rules and regulations for my account and stuck to it. So now…though my account is only in its infancy, it is shaping up to be a rather delightful place to talk to other people who are interested in history. There is debate…there is disagreement. But it’s all done in a respectful way. 
 
I’m gonna admit that once upon a time I got a kick out of trotting out my historian credentials and “dunking” on someone with whom I disagreed – I could get pretty nasty. But I saw the error in my ways and instead started working on looking at why someone might think differently. Perhaps their argument had some merit. I mean, assuming that many people are arguing in good faith, I think I owe it to the greater good to try and see their points. And if they turn out to be wing-nuts, well…I can just move along. 

And in a related story…

I've been enjoying the hell out of Megan Phelps-Roper's interview of J. K. Rowling. You might remember the former from her long-past association with the infamous Westboro Baptist Church and the latter both from her Harry Potter celebrity AND her controversial comments about trans and women's issues. What I especially like about this show is how we learn of the development of Internet polarization and how animosity-driven social media "activism"  has spilled into the mainstream...I suspect you can guess my position on this. But wherever you stand, you will certainly take away a lot from this series. Check it out: 
The Witch Trials of J. K. Rowling 

With compliments,

Keith