Cite this post as:
Scott Weingart, MD FCCM. Wee – Warning: Nothing Useful Here – Politics and Why I’m “Divorcing” Twitter. EMCrit Blog. Published on February 1, 2017. Accessed on October 2nd 2023. Available at [https://emcrit.org/emcrit/wee-warning-nothing-useful-politics-im-divorcing-twitter/ ].
Financial Disclosures:
Dr. Scott Weingart, Course Director, reports no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.
This episode’s speaker(s), (listed above), report no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.
CME Review
Original Release: February 1, 2017
Date of Most Recent Review: Jan 1, 2022
Termination Date: Jan 1, 2025
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Here is another term that you may be interested in in case you did not already know of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law
perfect!
Thanks for wasting my time Scott ?
Poe’s law is gold Brian!
Let’s get on with taking care of patients and striving to be better
?
Cheers
Chris
i live to waste your time, Chris
i think the wise cabrera once tweeted “all cruelty springs from weakness”
or my personal favourite from keats: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”
keep up the good work with the crew.
thanks, brother
RE: the story about the person who thought all physicians would vote alike: it is not only non-physicians who occasionally make the mistake of considering us a homogenous block. I’ve often seen sentences which start “As physicians, I don’t understand how we could not support/oppose” whatever–ignoring, apparently, the fact that we are all so many other things *besides* physicians.
yep
Thanks Scott. This was not a waste of time at all. You articulate well what many of us have struggled with recently. At St.Emlyn’s we’ve taken the stance of not engaging with the trolls (and I do consider them trolls). It’s tough to be silent after we’ve been abused and insulted in a public space. Members of the team have had personal attacks about the way they look, their gender, etc. We’re very keen to debate content, but personal stuff has no place. Some of the accusations against the SMACC committee were simply bizarre. I think they are an amazing… Read more »
Agree on all. But the obvious trolls have never fazed me. It is rather the people with identities in their profile who just say ridiculous things that have really turned me away.
Hi Scott, After the first SMACC conference I wrote my first ever piece for St Emlyns, and my major conclusion that the difference between it and other conferences was that “everyone was so kind”. Over the last few weeks I’ve been saddened to see that this kindness is no longer a given in EM medical social media. Arguably, without Twitter my life would not be the same: I wouldn’t have meet the St Emlyn’s team and I certainly wouldn’t have had some of the amazing opportunities that have come my way since joining. But, like you, I have recently contemplated… Read more »
>PS The only Ryan Gosling film I’ve ever seen is Deadpool…….
you picked the right one! (edited-listener corrected us both, Gos is not deadpool, Ryan Reynolds is.)
But watch Drive–amazing movie.
Ryan Reynolds was in Deadpool. Not Gosling.
It’s good to finally hear somebody who is annoyed with Twitter like I am! Sometimes I feel like I’m forced to log on to Twitter just because I do FOAM. I wish we could all use Snapchat, at least trolling would be much more entertaining. I’m curious as to why you talked about Trump the way you did. It doesn’t seem like you to discuss politics on your show, especially when your audience is likely split 50/50 on the topic. I feel like you used one of the same argumentation fallacies from episode 180. Specifically, by calling it a “Muslim… Read more »
Zack, thanks for the comment, fair questions all. Reason I mentioned at all is >70% of the EMCrit audience is international and they seem to conflate all of America with support of Trump and his policies. I am functionally apolitical and have big problems with both of the major parties of our Country. All I ask for in a President is that they are intelligent and empathic. If they satisfy those two criteria, then I am not particularly interested. Regardless of your party affiliation, an objective study of Trump’s speech and behavior patterns would lead to two conclusions: 1. He… Read more »
Scott, I have become a big fan. The focus of my affinity is your precision and reason. I must admit It was a bit of a shock to hear you wade into the political waters this morning; but then to do it without much precision and/or reason was even more upsetting. Just as having a low oxygen saturation is correctly termed hypoxemia and not hypoxic; President Trump has not signed and executive order banning Muslims. There is a 90 day pause for all citizens of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen from entering the United States. It does… Read more »
Josh, thank you–your comment embodies the way to be respectful in dissent. Responded to this one in my response to Zack above. Thanks for listening!
Totally agree. I think there is something about online discussions that tend to bring out the worst in people and Twitter’s character limit doesn’t help. There have been a few notable exceptions (the comments on Roger Elbert’s blog when he was alive were amazingly insightful and positive) but I think more and more the best way to engage with people is in person, especially if the topic is controversial.
yep! though I think a community with downvoting and no character limit (e.g. Reddit) may also work
Scott– In favor of twitter, is that it attracts the next generation passionate providers who will become leaders in the future towards EM and critical care. The opportunity for a pre-med or a med student or resident to watch or even participate in a live ongoing Med Ed discussion on twitter is one that should not be under-appreciated (and is different than the comments on the blog. Different vibe. Different audience.) By you being on twitter and accessible, suddenly lofty leaders become real to the rest of us. Normal fun people with passion for the field. The fact that some… Read more »
In my experience, while twitter has that potential, it has not been used as an ave for those things for people to reach me. Med studs seem more likely to comment on the blog/send email through the feedback link.
I follow the subreddit, and Reddit in general is great…BUT the anonymity on Reddit can put a damper on serious conversation and the lack of alerts/notifications makes connecting with your audience difficult. That being said, I hate Twitter even more than you do, so I’ll gladly take the FOAM elsewhere.
Oh man… This podcast brought a tear to my eye. I’ve been listening to you for years. Your voice has been with me on so many runs and long drives. Though I am just a humble paramedic, your podcasts have been an amazing source of inspiration and a huge help in my practice. In all kiss-ass-ery, it angers me (while washing the dishes) to hear that some one I highly respect (as do so many other paramedics and nurses I have worked with) being dragged down the shitty hill that is social media. Facebook and twitter used to be places… Read more »
thanks! though i do not want to make it seem like I have been attacked in any way. it’s not that, it is more an onslaught of poor discourse than any overtly offensive action. still, great to know folks have my back
Well said
Mike
No, this is extremely useful and what you say cannot be restated too often. It is not just pointless, but counter-productive, to engage in discourse with anyone who refuses to adhere to the rules of argument. If someone cannot accept that evidence can exist, that there is some kind of shared definition of what constitutes a ‘fact’, that reality can actually be ‘knowable’, then their argument is effectively irrefutable and that is antithetical to rationality and thus to science. This is axiomatic to logic, philosophy and the philosophy of science. This is the foundation upon which Western rationality and science… Read more »
here here
I think that social media has created keyboard warriors. Its pathetic and obnoxious especially to those of us who truly value your knowledge and expertise. Thank you so much for the hard work you put in for each podcast, conference, blog, etc. You are a hero among us in my book and many I fly with at Classic Air Medical.
Thank you sir!
Steve
I found this to an extremely moving and important episode. Thank you so much for posting it. Now more than ever, we need someone with your skills to help galvanize us as a community. Your are thoughtful and highly articulate. So incredibly refreshing compared with the rest of the world these days. Here’s to you! Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!!!
Thank you Scott. You work hard to provide free, high quality medical education for me and countless others and I appreciate it. You have made me a better doctor, a more interested doctor and a better thinker, and you have continually made me aware of many issues and ideas that are not even discussed at my current place of training. Thank you for demonstrating honesty and humanity in the face of difficulty.
I thought the cultural Canada went partway down both coasts. I wonder where I was wrong…? 😉 It is great to sit down with these podcasts when most other podcast just gets too “Ted Talk” like in tonality, or too superficial That the topics are practical and inspirational is then a plus. “Muslim-ban”: Our former prime minister was detained at an airport in Washington. He is white, male and a Lutheran Minister. But had an Iranian stamp in his passport. During the detention he asked whether it was that suspicious that a former primer minister also had visited Iran. —… Read more »
I listened to this episode last night and it reminded me of a discourse several years ago touching on your experience sparked by an article: Campbell, B., & Manning, J. (2014). Microaggression and moral cultures. Comparative sociology, 13, 692-726
It discusses the transition of culture from one based on Honor then Dignity then Victimhood. There is a summary article in the Atlantic worth checking out.
Another old paramedic here, who’s done his time on USENET, FIDONET, and (gulp) PLATO. What is old is new again …
Note: definitely not PC, and, depending on your W, possibly NSFW.
Slightly less nuanced than Poe’s Law, but still applicable. Note that this was published back in 2004, when the internet was starting to REALLY take off …
https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19
yep, that pretty much sums it up