4th
Decontextualization is death
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I might not be the funniest, or cleverest, of Twitterers. But as someone who appreciates Twitter’s unique forum for this odd sort of artistic expression, I feel strongly that up-front attribution is often essential to the context of the humor. Some people might just not care, and that’s completely fine. Honestly. But, well….I actually don’t want my tweets to be anonymous. Not at any stage of the game. Not without my permission.
Does that mean I’m afraid a joke I try to make won’t be able to stand on its own, anonymously? Not as far as I’m concerned: my ‘tweets’ are at their essence comprised of my icon, my username and a collection of <140 characters. As it works for now, that’s something I can absolutely assume is the case, each and every time. Whether I need it or not, I happen to want the context, and I craft the vast majority of my tweets accordingly. For me, that tiny, complete package is what stands on its own. If part of that package is missing, and then only a portion of that is broadcast elsewhere by another entity, it’s simply not the content as I’d intended it to be, and assumed it would.
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I could go on and on, and yes yes yes I’m aware it’s not really that huge of a deal. It’s just a strange, uncomfortable feeling that context is so often essential, regardless of medium. For someone or something to republish any of my tweets without immediate attribution, anywhere, anyhow, feels a little like if I were to post a photo on my blog and not give any apparent credit to the original photographer. Sure, perhaps you can click it to find out the source, but that’s clearly not an appropriate way to credit anyone, in our little technological, bloggy world.
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Oh, absolutely. Nail on the head, Permenter. (Read all of Jason’s great post which, ass that I am, I’ve retitled and abridged without a hint of irony.)
Decontextualization is death, a truism I’ve written about before. Sure, some of us make Twitter into a one-line comedy game, but that’s far from all there is to it. I don’t read Twitter for the jokes; I read it for the people making the jokes. Removing the attribution from a tweet disembodies it. It might still be funny, but it’s a shallow, impersonal sort of humor. If that’s what I wanted, I’d just read the Unix fortune file or watch Dane Cook or something.
Small example: one of my most successful recent posts was this one: “Today the baby found my nipples and learned about disappointment.” It received 75 stars on Favstar. Would it have been as funny without my name next to it, making clear whose were the nipples in question? I doubt it.
OK, I really just wanted to use the phrase “nipples in question.” But my points still stand. (Both of them. Seriously, it’s cold in here.)
