Patrick Comerford
I have never been able to get my head around the idea of referring to Lansdowne Road as ‘the Aviva’. Perhaps I’ve been behaving like some sort of ‘Rugby Luddite’ but to be honest it’s simply because I’m an old sentimentalist, with fond memories of the Wanderers and Lansdowne ends, and weekends in the pavilions in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
For very different reasons, I refused to keep up with Elon Musk’s puerile rebranding of Twitter.
At the bottom of my blog postings I have long had five logos that allowed readers to share my postings across four platforms, Blogger, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter, or to forward them by email. Following Musk’s takeover, I decided not to change that Twitter logo to his teen-like ‘X’ logo.
Initially, I simply could not be bothered. I can’t remember when I signed up to Twitter, but I was using it less and less, to the point that in recent months I have only been using Twitter to draw attention to my own daily blog postings.
In recent weeks, I have stopped even looking at other people’s postings on X or Twitter. But it’s no longer because I couldn’t be bothered.
In fact, I am bothered, and for too long I have been bothered by Elon Musk’s rabid views on just about everything.
Now I have had enough, far too much.
By continuing to use Twitter just twice a day, I was another statistic in and Musk executives calculating advertising revenue and raising advertising charges. Even if my paltry contributions were only worth $1 in advertising charges each time, that was $2 a day, or $730 a year. And that’s $730 a year too much for Musk to have had to donate to Donald Trump’s election campaign.
I have had too much of their racism.
I have had too much of their xenophobia.
I have had too much of their antisemitism.
I have had too much of conspirace theories, climate change deniers, and the denial of science, medicine and fact.
I have had too much of people telling me lies are the truth and the truth is a lie.
I have had too much of their hatred, misogyny, violence, vitriol and vulgarity.
I’m out.
Earlier this week, the Guardian announced that it will no longer post on any official Guardian editorial accounts on the social media site X (formerly Twitter).
In its statement, the Guardian said: ‘We think that the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives and that resources could be better used promoting our content elsewhere.
They have been considering this for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform. The US presidential election campaign served only to underline what they have been thinking about: that X is a toxic media platform and that Elon Musk, is unwilling or unable to use its influence to shape political discourse.
The Guardian has joined a growing list of companies distancing themselves from the platform. It cited ‘long-standing concerns’ about far-right conspiracy theories and racist content on the platform.
Major brands, media brands, government departments and law enforcement agencies are rushing to abandon their presence on the platform. From luxury fashion house Balenciaga to American retailer Best Buy, companies across industries are rethinking their association with the site.
Those who are walking away include Austrian Airlines, the Berlin Film Festival, Devon County Council, Eli Lilly and North Wales Police. Several have echoed similar concerns over brand safety, content moderation, and the platform’s increasingly polarising environment, or daily abuse, disinformation and high costs.
Musk has endorsed antisemitic conspiracy theories, has attacked the BBC and the Labour Government in Britain, given voice to Nazis, tried to silence anti-racism campaigns and human rights groups, and defamed and traduced mainstream journalists.
Brands such as Disney, Apple, IBM, Paramount, and Comcast have paused the running of ads on the service after they were found running alongside extremist content, including pro-Nazi posts.
It is heartening to learn that X's advertising revenue has plummeted, with at least 50 of the top 100 US advertisers ceasing their ad spending on the platform since Musk's acquisition in 2022.
Social media is important for news organisations, journalists and bloggers, helping us to reach new audiences. But I no longer want Musk, X or Trump to have their toxic names with anything I wrote about.
I have decided to deactivate my Twitter account this weekend. It is an easy decision to take today. I care more about my integrity and my credibility than about the ever-diminishing and ever-dwindling reach X offers.
Twitter has never been the only social media platform around. Here’s where you can find me and where we can keep in touch:
My website or blog: I am continuing to blog regularly at www.patrickcomerford.com.
Facebook: this is my primary platform for reaching out to people: https://www.facebook.com/revpatrickcomerford. I repost my blog postings and my YouTube videos there on a daily visit. It’s irritating at times, but it’s also fun, entertaining, educational, and it’s my main way of keeping up with family members, friends, former colleagues, people I like – and even people who don’t like me. Friend me there, even if you don’t like me or my opinions.
YouTube: I have a personal channel that you might like to subscribe to or like: https://www.youtube.com/@patrickcomerford.
Instagram is also a part of my social media life, and is linked to my Facebook account.
Pinterest: my Pinterest postings are chaotic and disorganised. But I think my photographs are quite good.
LinkedIn: I find LinkedIn difficult to use, and less relevant now that I am retired from academic life. But I am still there, and occasionally – very occasionally – I try to catch up on things that are shared there.
Bluesky: I've just opened a profile on Blue Sky within the last day or two. You can find me at: @patrickcomerford.bsky.social.
We’re all going to have too much of Trump and Musk over the next four years. Like Austrian Airlines, I recommend you locate your nearest ‘X-It’.
Goodbye, Twitter. I may miss some friends and be a little late in catching up on some news. But I am not going to miss the violence, the vitriol and the vulgairity.
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