Bemusement Parks and Drama Queens

Posted on July 11, 2011 in Anxiety Micro-blogging Reflections

Twitter has been delivering me to a state not unlike a dead whale on the beach, roasting in the sun. This is my own fault. I “have” to keep checking it to see what the news is. Then I get into arguments about just what the role of the president of the United States is supposed to be. He’s not a dictator, I point out. He doesn’t get to write the laws and he doesn’t instruct Congress on how to vote. But they keep coming around with the same old arguments and imply that I am delusional, that I don’t understand the real nature of power in this country.

It’s become a bemusement park, full of drama queens, and I am the first up to put on the rouge and the cheap blond curls, screaming my politics like a shrill aria. At this historic impasse in American history, I find myself trembling on the inside with rage at accounts without faces. What disturbs me is that I feel I might be the only one wondering if the emotion is getting out of control. While I have my supporters (the numbers are on the increase), I’ve devoted too much time to combating the cynicism and the myths being spewed by the ignorant and the tools.

I give people advice — like don’t pay any attention to the tools. Concentrate on the good people. Stick to message. But my Seesmic windows remain cluttered by the rants and retorts of people who just can’t let go of their stalkers ((I just messaged one friend about a fellow who keeps coming back at her with new accounts: “He’s what we call a Troll. His purpose is to make you waste time and energy so you don’t get your message out.” I’m an old hand at this.)) .

Of course, my therapist says I should just walk away from Twitter. Maybe I should just let people have the world they seem to want so badly. I’m not into secret agent games. I know that my life is pretty pointless and unimportant. No number of chat victories will make me vital to the intellectual life of the nation.

But between me and sanity is the Door. Closing the portal on the other side means divorcing myself from other minds who share my interests and concerns. So what have I to gain?

Right now, I’d just like to spend more time with people who don’t need makeup and wigs.