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I'm here because I sometimes have an opinion, and I need more than 140 characters to voice said opinion.

Saturday 23 July 2011

Agendas

Once again, a chance tweet, a chance RT, a chance Thread, has led me to think and question. Why do I do what I do? Do I, perchance, have an "agenda" - as in the negative kind?

Since I am currently in Twitter gaol - too many tweets apparently, I shall use the time wisely spent in writing.

I advertise myself as an info and news addict, and a proud backslush tweeter. To be clear, I do consider myself that – a backslush tweeter, news aggregator, or whatever similar term you want to define me by. Whatever you call me, yes, I feel a responsibility to facts and followers. Whatever personal opinion might pop into my head from time to time, I try to present different and varying viewpoints. I specifically state that what I choose to RT means (to me) that the tweet is interesting, funny, informative, provocative, insightful, and/or thoughtful.

I don't deliberately RT someone's provocative tweet, in an effort to humiliate them or hold them up to be ostracised. I RT that provocative tweet: to show that there are provocative points of view around issues, to highlight that not all people think the same, and to hopefully get others thinking. Sometimes I RT that which I might find personally distasteful. However, you need to know that as a former journo,  I don't feel the need, nor feel I have the luxury to only read or listen or RT the pretty, the tasteful, the perfect, the good. I try not to go to the gory distasteful or the crass provocative, but rather highlight that which makes us think, and question what we think. Rather than just stick to the middle road, I will weave back and forth across all lanes of life;  and actually, I don't think I should have to apologise for that.

As mentioned previously, yes I feel a responsibility to exercise some constraint over what I RT, but I censor infrequently. Someone admonished me today that we (which included me apparently) need to lead by example. I do not pretend - even remotely - to be a leader!! Again, to be very clear, I do not claim to be anything but an info and news addict who happens to find an outlet (and somewhat creative one at that) by backslushing. I conduct myself responsibly in this craft – I think. There are those on various social media platforms who want to lead, or who by their actions are vaulted to those positions. Good for them. I, on the other hand, have no such ambitions, and in fact, am the one who is most likely to be found in the background, RT those leaders, or about those leaders. And I am happy with that.

I do, however, hold an agenda;  but I think even journos would be okay with my hidden agenda.  It formed when I was young, and probably reflects that I have lived, survived and am trying to thrive, through tragedy and pain. I wish/hope/pray/think a lot about:
-          World peace
-          Everyone to just get along, please
-          Everyone to live happily ever after
-          Everyone to have “enough” – enough food, shelter, possessions, security, happiness
-          Etc

So if anyone feels that what I RT (or even the occasional time I tweet myself) has an agenda behind it, yes, they just might be right. But check the above list before passing judgement on whether my agenda is really a bad thing.

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