Leaving Twitter

My phase of tweeting came as a result of me running for student governance elections. This was a great way in which I could communicate with my constituency and promote my campaign, but it came at a great cost. I am not writing a critique of the actual application but rather, an honest reflection of my experiences using it. Firstly, the simplicity of the app blocked me from unpacking my nuanced views, secondly, I started to latch onto those popular trends, and thirdly, I started to fear ‘cancel culture’.

With a limited number of characters on Twitter, and the knowledge that people may not read your threads, I felt that there was no room for nuanced views or authenticity. If there is a “#______IsOverParty”, then the message is clear and all tweets which are attached to that hashtag should follow that narrative.

I almost stopped having to think for myself. If I saw that enough people agreed with what was being said, I would simply retweet it without deeply unpacking my thoughts. I am an avid reader and I spend a lot of time thinking about issues that are important to me, but the way in which I communicated on Twitter did not allow me the space to fully engage. For the most part, I am at fault for just mindlessly following the masses and I take full accountability for that. However, there are so many people out there who are doing exactly what I did and do not even realise it.

Trends come and go so quickly on the application that by the time you have written out your views in a succinct way, the interest has already died down. One minute, a major corruption story is being exposed in the country, and the next minute we are commemorating a national historical event without any transition from the former to the latter.

When I read an article or journal, I find that what I gain from it is not from the actual text, but rather from the time spent reflecting on it afterwards. There is no better way to engage with any writing, than to expand on thoughts and take the time to make meaning of it in different spheres of life. I saw that thrill start to fade away as I kept hopping from topic to topic without even checking facts, let alone contemplating on what is being written.

Tweets can also be hurtful. They can affect people in ways that are damaging. When it happened to me, I started to understand more. It is easy for people to hide behind a screen and scream the most hurtful words about you. Not because they feel such strong disdain towards you, but because Tweeting is so easy. You just sit behind a screen, put a couple of characters together and add a hashtag for the attention, or better yet, retweet someone who has said what you are thinking because then you don’t even need to write anything.

Don’t get me wrong, it is 100% acceptable to disagree with somebody. It is absolutely fine to get into a debate, and it is stimulating to do so. But, the way in which twitter ‘cancels’ people does not help anyone. I recently saw someone hashtag that a South African journalist ‘must fall’. The tweet did not mention any reasoning behind it, it just said, “I’m not sure what she did but she must fall! #____MustFall”.

Even if that person did something or said something that was unacceptable, do we have such little faith in people’s ability to grow and learn from their mistakes? Did we even listen to their side of the story or get insight to their thinking? What is worse is if you do not even know what they did wrong, but you are just retweeting because it is what other people are doing. Can we go back to having productive conversations where respect is placed at the forefront?

As a result of how easily a person can be ‘cancelled’, I started to tweet in a way that was safe. If it was not sufficiently woke, I would not say it. If it may be controversial, I steered clear from it. If it was original and prone to scrutiny, I avoided tweeting it at all costs. My tweets were influenced by fear. I feared faceless comments by people I did not know.

I have left the world of Twitter and returned to a medium that has allowed me to express myself without fear of judgement and character assassination. It has always been available to me, and now, more than ever, I am grateful to speak about what matters to me.

To my journal, I am grateful to you for listening to my whole story, contradictions and all.

A Day in Southampton

Just like my own coastal home town of Port Elizabeth, I can imagine that most people might misconstrue Southampton as lifeless and mundane in comparison to rest of the country's vibrant cities. I almost fell into that thought category, but somehow found our day in Southampton to be one of the best days.

I believe that going to Southampton for the day provided guidance that was of personal value for me. The Abe Bailey tour met with a professor from Solent University, who greeted us at the train station and organised warm beverages. I made the most out of the Christmas menu by ordering a delicious gingerbread latte.

We walked to Solent University, and the professor took us around the campus and gave a presentation on education. I received a poem from her presentation by Jennifer Freed called Philosophy 183a: Existence. It reminded me about the beautiful educational process I experienced while learning for my degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, and how freeing the journey really felt. It spoke to the theme of questioning the knowledge we take for granted, and how sometimes education should begin with us un-learning, and ultimately it is that doubt and uncertainty that opens us up to depths of knowledge. I related to having the freedom of being taken to an unknown path that must be walked by oneself.

I admired the professor because of her authenticity. In comparison to the atmosphere at the more prestigious tertiary institutions that we went to, I found her to be unpretentious and genuine. Although an academic wearing the typical 'professor-style' tweed jacket, it was clear that she saw no need to be pompous and hold a grandiose superiority as I had found in the higher-ranking institutions. She is a relatable person with a passion for higher education and equipping the youth with sufficient skills for the working world. It was upon my realisation of her ingenuity, that I also saw Southampton for its own.  

Many of the people I was on tour with were allured by prominent people we met who were part of the exclusive and glamorous fellowships and organisations, but throughout our time in the UK, I was most taken aback by a woman who lectures at a less prestigious university, in a windy coastal town. 

As the day continued, I wished that time could slow down for just a few more minutes because it was the most free I had felt in a long time.

LONDON: A Piece of Everything

I spent around 11 days in London during the festive Christmas season after being selected for the Abe Bailey Travel Bursary. With a full programme, every day presented fresh learning experiences and unique memories.

From watching Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre to exploring the colossal Gothic architecture of Westminster Abbey through an organ recital, I felt so fortunate to have absorbed the incredible gems that we were exposed to. At the Tower of London, the group of South African's, with whom I was on tour, plotted how we would get the crowned jewels back home, and later in the London leg of the tour, I found myself concerned about the way in which the South African High Commissioner represented the country, and more critical than ever about political deployments into diplomatic positions. 

The Houses of Parliament day stood out as one of my most prized learning experiences. To have sat in the Brexit debate after a talk with Dawn Butler and lunch with Lord Bilimoria and Lady Chalker gave us a good insight British parliamentary system and dynamics thereof. Prior to the Houses of Parliament, we also got to hear from the Mayor of Camden about the challenges and objectives  from a local government perspective.

I felt truly and wholeheartedly mesmerised by the theatre productions that we watched. As a musician and art lover, to go to the Tate Modern and watch award-winning productions such as Hamilton, Matilda and Les Miserables, the tour begun to feel surreal. In one of the rooms in the Tate Modern, an animated film by William Kentridge moved me through charcoal and pastel visuals that highlight the brutal history of South Africa. My musical background has nourished an appreciation for any form of art, so I found myself inspired in many ways by the artistic spaces of the tour. Art, by my personal definition is expression. And, I noted that in the busyness of life I had been neglecting my artistic side, so this has inspired me to go back to spending more of my personal-time playing jazz piano and occasionally picking up the paintbrushes.