Sweeping generalisations, short-termism, vanity and revisionist historical parallels are destroying our ability to debate rationally
There was something inevitable about Paddy Cosgrave of the Web Summit falling on his Twitter sword given his history of invective on the platform. Photograph: Patricia de Melo Moreira/AFP via Getty Imagesexpressed concern that “the destruction of the past, or rather of the social mechanisms that link one’s contemporary experience to that of earlier generations is one of the most characteristic and eerie phenomena of the late twentieth century.
Tweets from some Sinn Féin politicians based on historical events have also generated backlashes. In 2020, Laois TD Brian Stanley, on the occasion of the centenary of the Kilmichael ambush in Cork, when an IRA assault resulted in the deaths of 17 auxiliaries,“Kilmicheal and Narrow Water the 2 IRA operations that taught the elective of British army and the establishment the cost of occupying Ireland. Pity for everyone they were such slow learners.
It would be much more illuminating for the tweeters to elaborate on their thinking about history and the long legacies they seek to pronounce on in less than 280 characters, but the damaging irony is that those embracing the social media free-for-all are facilitating the shutting down of real debate.
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