Seth Abramson

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

Trump says "we [his MAGA followers] have no choice" but to orchestrate "a backlash the likes of which no one has ever seen before" because the Democrats are trying to "destroy" America and have constituted a tyrannical government. Everything he is saying bespeaks future violence. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

Trump is now subtly implying the FBI are like Nazi stormtroopers, falsely saying that they "stormed" Mar-a-Lago. (There was no "break-in", there was no "storming", there was no "assault.") And now he has just promised "a backlash the likes of which no one has ever seen before." — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

This is, quite simply, a speech intended to incite domestic terrorists to kill FBI agents and members of the Biden administration. It is shocking that there are no legal consequences for Incitement anymore. Trump has just now called the legal search of Mar-a-Lago an "assault." — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

Trump has now described the legal, orderly, court-ordered search of Mar-a-Lago—done only after Trump defied a subpoena—as a military maneuver. He just called it an "invasion" by "vicious monsters" after calling it a "raid." He's called it a "break-in" half a dozen times already. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

Donald Trump just called Joe Biden an "enemy of the state" at his rally. He did this in the first 120 seconds of his speech. I assume the U.S. Secret Service will investigate? — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

@larrymWI Great! Then my advice, which you are free to ignore, is to follow people whose writing you enjoy rather than strangers you feel the need to insult by presumptuously psychoanalyzing them — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

@greigmeister Have watched everything out in the TV series so far and when I was a kid I think I read the first six or seven books of the series before I tapped out I have more patience now and probably would have been able to get through the whole thing — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

@BarrettsDad @JCMorgan3 lol — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

7/ I should add that I think HOUSE OF THE DRAGON is absolutely amazing across the board—I think that it’s superbly crafted, must-watch TV—and this is especially meaningful to me because as I get older I find myself considerably more drawn to Westeros than Middle-Earth in any case — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

6/ I think there are a few issues with the writing and plotting of LOTR: THE RINGS OF POWER, but I still enjoyed the first two episodes and am looking forward to continued improvement in the series The casting is 100% a non-issue, and the acting is fine; the visuals are great — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

@AS88005532 @DerekAdamThomas I felt there were some significant issues as well, including some that seemed really unnecessary and a product of bad plot design, but in general I still enjoyed both episodes — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

5/ And honestly if J.R.R. Tolkien were to rise from the dead and start screaming on Hannity that “ALL THE ELVES MUST BE WHITE” I would want him to go take a flying leap as well, as it would merely be another instance of a great artist failing their audience rather than vice versa — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

4/ One of the primary purposes of a fantasy—literary or otherwise—is to stretch your mind and work your imagination like a muscle, so demanding that every elf or dwarf in a Tolkien production looks just like what you have in your mind’s eye is PRECISELY THE OPPOSITE OF THE POINT — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

3/ I’m reading the amazing SHADOWS OF THE APT series, and from the jump I was embarrassed for the critics who said the Mantids of @aptshadow are “elves” No, they’re Mantids, and one probably shouldn’t be reading fantasy at all if that feels like arduous mental gymnastics for you — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

2/ Actual employment of the imagination *begins*—not ends—at a paradoxical organic construct like “cold sun” So if you are one of those trogs voting down LOTR: THE RINGS OF POWER because of its diverse cast you are a literal child and should not even be behind the wheel of a car — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

1/ Unless some ineluctable quality of a wholly organic construct is being diametrically inverted—for instance, in the name of the band “Cold Sun”—even the most rudimentary act of intelligence and imagination should protect an adult thinker from feeling any discomfort whatsoever — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

Anyone who can’t imagine a nonwhite elf or nonwhite dwarf is experiencing such a dramatic and paradoxical collapse of the imagination—as elves and dwarves are merely wholly artificial human inventions to begin with—that I’d expect to visibly see such a person’s head caving inward — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

RT @SethAbramson: Here’s a fascinating article by @ethanplaut on how strategic digital illiteracy can serve as “resistance” against misinfo… — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

@ScarletTheater A platform can be a tool, but it can also be a platform—for creativity. I am a big believer in disengaging from institutions and norms if the generative qualities of one’s own energies require it. The idea is that everyone has an idiosyncratic poetics they can and should explore. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

@joshsusser This is how I think it should be. I see the same thing happening with Substack. People are using it however they like, and over time the corporation bends to the people rather than vice versa. To me, that’s the ideal. And yes, as you say, beneficial innovations ultimately spread. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

@larrymWI I think you may have missed the point of the thread—which is that everyone on Twitter should be prepared to use it as they like, which includes being disinterested in another user as they wish. I’m not at all bothered by your disinterest in me (your comment here notwithstanding). — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

@jpanzer That’s interesting. I admit I didn’t realize hashtags preceded Twitter’s active encouragement of them via live links. I should say that my problem is not so much with hashtags as to the idea that hashtags fit into my own poetics. They’re wrong for me, but not necessarily others. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

@AngelWaterton90 Yes — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

So I like the idea of “strategic illiteracy,” as it opens the door to conversations about misliteracy and platform-breaking (cf. “schismogenesis” and “creative refusal”). Colloquially speaking? Folks should use Twitter however the f*** they want, rather than *avoiding* Twitter. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

So I like the idea of “strategic illiteracy,” as it opens the door to conversations about misliteracy and platform-breaking (cf. “schismogenesis” and “creative refusal”). Colloquially? I think folks should use Twitter however the f*** they want, rather than a avoiding Twitter. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

But then these highly motivated yet under-read critics choose their obvious “out”—conflating form and content—to say that they know my content is without value because they have already decided the form in which it appears is without value. Misliteracy warmly invites that attack. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

There are consequences to misliteracy. I very rarely encounter a critic of mine on Twitter who’s familiar with my work—as the barrier of entry to the work is high enough that most critics end up too angry at my misliteracies to expend the effort required for meaningful critique. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

One part of being a metamodernist is knowing what people expect of you and then doing differently not as an act of resistance but a celebration of organic creative idiosyncrasy. I use Twitter the way I like—and misuse it as I like—and that’s why I see my usage as a “misliteracy.” — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

But my sense is that unless one is avoiding a meta-language altogether—like those who quit (or better yet never joined) Facebook—we are always choosing between micro-literacies and micro-illiteracies as though we were diners at a buffet. And our choices are always performative. — PolitiTweet.org

Seth Abramson @SethAbramson

Folks have often been upset with me for following other users via lists rather than follows; for refusing to join hashtag campaigns (or even use hashtags much at all); for not using the “like” function; for writing mega-threads; for self-retweeting; and other apparent “refusals.” — PolitiTweet.org