I’ve seen some crazy stories over the last 14 months, but today’s is definitely one of the craziest. As luck would have it, it was published by The Guardian, home to Jessica Valenti and various other rad fem nutters. I don’t think even Valenti is quite this far gone, although I could be wrong. Today’s big idea comes courtesy of Osman Faruqi. What is it, you ask? Well, the crazy son of a bitch wants to nationalize Twitter in response to the change from stars (favorites) to hearts (likes). It seems like this has been on his mind for a long while with the way he talks, though.
The hearts are the final straw: it’s time to nationalise Twitter…
[H]ow many times can the company change what works in pursuit of more users before its base packs up and moves on? It’s not the relatively recent new features – sharing images, videos and Vines – that catapulted Twitter into the mainstream. It was the idea that your 140 character message, no matter how inane, could be read and shared across the world, sparking conversation, debate, new ideas and friendships…
Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey cites the popular Citizens Band Radio movement of the 1970’s as a key inspiration for the platform…Ultimately CB Radio went out of the fashion with the advent of online chat rooms, which in turn have been replaced by social networks like Twitter…CB Radio wasn’t privately run. It was government administered and regulated. There was no point in trying to monetise it, because it wasn’t the platform itself that was valuable; it was the networks created by users that made it interesting and useful.
Like CB Radio, Twitter isn’t an end product. It’s infrastructure that plays too socially and politically useful a role to be left in the hands of investors and stockbrokers. Whether it’s through state nationalisation, some sort of global governance framework or a user maintained co-operative, it’s time to take Twitter out of the world of finance and put it firmly in the hands of the public – before it goes broke, or wrecks its user experience entirely, or both.
Luckily, I haven’t seen one single person co-sign this garbage. In fact, Faruqi has been having a hell of a time convincing people that he’s serious. He’s for real, though, and hat’s the sad part. I’m going to talk about it a bit below, but first, here’s some reaction to his ridiculous proposal:
I guess we can’t expect much from this guy. Look at his track record, for fuck’s sake…
So, take this idiot’s proposal for what it’s worth. It’s never going to happen, because for one, which country would take it over? Does he mean the UN? Knowing these fuckers, that’s the angle they ultimately have in mind. Even thought this plan is dead on arrival, it shows the mindset of the opposition. They literally want the government to control social media so they can better enforce their hugbox mentality. Think about how dangerous people like that truly are. Big government owning the means of communication is not something I want to experience. Neither does anyone else with half a brain in their head.
Make fun of this idiot down below. More stuff coming soon, including the LIVE show thread.
