Is Twitter the new middle-class machine

God be with the days when a group of women living in an upmarket estate could seriously affect the price of their houses. Depending on the mood that was in it—they could talk the prices up or down. It was a simple and reliable process when one bright spark would suddenly announce to the group, ‘We are looking for €500,000 for ours. Much coffee was spilled and envious looks exchanged. Later the grapevine headlined it –and auctioneers were contacted. Around the same time a group of lads drinking coffee after a game of golf. Their slant was a little different—as they would not be looking for anything. Comments like we will get €500,000 for ours went unnoticed as somebody else boasted they had just bought the wife a new car. Those were the days my friends with shopping trips to New York and family holidays to Florida. Irish people had made it at last on the world’s big bad stage. Second homes were sought in Turkey—Hungary and Bulgaria. The mighty euro spoke and all was good. I often have nightmares wondering what things would have been like on twitter—at the start of the boom. Would auctioneers and estate agents have dominated my timeline. Would I have followed a bank? Don’t forget the favoured phrase during this utopian dream was ‘I secured a great rate!’ The borrower was in a position of great power. He could make a bank official squirm with a well placed reference to the opposition. It was a great game to play and I am sure many people sorely miss the buzz. Of course with twitter one will always get the dissenting voice. Perhaps people with some sort of moral soul may have warned us. We may have had soft voices telling us about how this greed will ruin society. Would we have listened coldly and then continued on the yellow brick road. But that is what is good about twitter. It allows for the dissenting voice complete and unabridged. When I joined twitter a few years ago—I was pleasantly surprised by the range of ideas presented. There was left and there was right—with a large centre. Good socially conscious articles came through politico and elsewhere. It also opened up the world. I discovered there is a sizable opposition in the United States for example. A core group of people who would put many of our so called socialists to shame. I learned new things about the world also. Sad facts like that despite our celebrated aid agencies three quarters of the world’s population don’t have enough to eat. To put this tiny point in perspective—I first heard this stat way back in 1975-in a school debate. I have spent the last few days chatting to new people. I have also done some serious analysis of my timeline. I am watching to see what type of discussions are taking place. I am disappointed. Yes there are some strong tweets re-topical issues, and the occasional comment re –ideology. I am afraid that most of the tweets are bland in the extreme. Men do it subliminally by trying to be witty and sound superior. However women are the worst offenders. With tweets that reflect their every thought and action! The reason we got sucked into the greed was that people didn’t question? We were led by the hand. Most of us went along with the false pride-of our tiger economy. There descended from the heavens a great shower of blandness. Where nothing was really questioned or forensically examined. Questions such as will this rising tide lift all boats? Or will it be only me and my neighbours in our suburban cocoon. Has this middle-class culture made a bid for twitter? When people avoid getting to the core of issues. Where much of the conversation concerns trite nonsense. I know some twitter users who like all their followers. They even like convicted bullies and lefty arty farties like me for Gods sake! I hear earnest activists going on about issues that are vital and important to society. They are fighting a losing battle to win over the concerns of the comfortable and the bland.