Editing Twitter for Election Campaigns

I hate elections. I mean, I really hate them. For several weeks leading up to each election, I have to put up with politicians, friends, the media and everyone else and their grandmother telling me what to do and how to think. 

Twitter, what was once my escape from the political world, has only compounded this problem. 

Many of the people I follow on Twitter are friends or colleagues, or simply people I just find amusing or informative in whatever faucet about themselves they’ve opted to bring to the twitterverse. Whatever the reason is that I follow them, it’s certainly not for their political insight or election coverage updates. Because if that was what they predominately tweeted, I assure you that I would not be one of their followers. 

I just don’t get it. Maybe everyone else experiences some sort of rush during an election that I seem to miss, or maybe it’s that there has been four elections in the past year or so and election time has morphed into some sort of ritual like the Banjo Bowl, or Thanksgiving. Whatever it is, it has passed me by, and now I long to edit the tweeps that I follow and burry my head in the sand, if only for the duration of this and every election.

The problem is is that I enjoy the people I follow Twitter. Red River College Creative Communication journalism students are at some sort of election assignment right now and I’m fighting the urge to unfollow every single one of them with all the strength I can muster. 

It’s not just them either. Come election time, everyone thinks they’re Rex Murphy. Sports reporters, music nuts, humour accounts, family, everyone! It’s getting out of hand, and testing my sanity. 

--Note-- I became a shaking ball of rage at this point in writing my blog, and spun of into a tirade about how useless politicians and their messages are, before I had to take a break, come back and edit this post to remain on topic. It was ugly... and really time consuming. Watching the news wasn’t help either. 

I turn to Twitter to escape the lies, deceit and madness that dominates the media during a campaign, yet my timeline is full of #mbvotes. Disproportionately full, considering that most people I follow aren’t even from Manitoba, let alone political.

“Get out there and vote”, “Vote for change”, “Don’t vote for that schmuck” , “Vote for me, or else you’ll be aiding in the destructing of this province”.  

..... “SHUTUP!”

Fueling my rage is the redundancy of it all. Janet Stewart’s apparent closing statement of "get out there and VOTE!" has filled my entire twitter page. I find this demand  to be down right rude. Not just because of the tweeps who felt the urge to quote her, but the fact that Stewart, a politician seeking election, thus  seeking the approval of a majority– even if from a minority of the population– couldn’t take the time or characters to add a ‘please’.

She can’t even remember to include basic manners in her speech and expects me to vote for her, or join her cause or whatever. That’s like hiring a journalist who doesn’t know how to use a comma.

Unfortunately, I can’t unfollow people just for the duration of the election, nor can I ignore tweets that carry a specific hashtag. (Someone smarter than I should look into this...)

Since it is unrealistic of the political twitterverse to ask me to unfollow everyone who tweets with #mbvotes, I’m going to make an equally unrealistic request of the political world. 

Stop telling me what to do. If you want my vote, if you want me to feel like my vote actually matters, if you want me to even consider paying attention to whatever half-truths you’re trying to convey to me, stop talking AT me. Tell me why you like this province, and where you would like to see it go. Ask me to vote and give me a reason.  Don’t tell me to vote for fear of being shunned by my peers. Edit your message for content.

Throwing back to my previous post, (yes, I realize I’m crossing to points in this blog, but I feel I really needed them both) politicians must edit their tone if they want their message to be heard outside the norm. It’s not always what you say, but how you say it, and Twitter for me, is not a place I want to be preached at. Edit your tone.

Until the political world edits their message from one delivered with a hammer to one of a full two-way conversation, I will not participate. And I believe that the youth vote that I hear is so weak  and virtually nonexistent will remain so.

“What we have here is a failure to communicate”

Have you ever responded to a situation honestly, but the tone you selected- by choice or accident- turned out to not be the appropriate tone for the circumstance?

This has been known to happen to me on occasion, and it is something I have been trying to correct. Seeing as I am now in my second year of communications studies, applying the appropriate tone to my responses to questions or situations that I may or may not believe to be totally ridiculous or inconsequential, should be something that comes natural. 

Well it doesn’t. I know our dear leader, Kim Jong-il has the same problem, probably worse than anyone. As this video will show, he is very misunderstood. 

How do you tell someone who is concerned about their weight that the Diet Pepsi they are drinking, doesn’t mean a darn-tooting thing when they have just polished off an extra large poutine and half a tub (yes tub, larger than a bucket or pail) of rocky road ice-cream? 

I had a friend once complain about a grade he received on a school project, (not in CreComm) which he blamed on the fact that his assessment was carried out by fellow students whom he had tenuous relationships with at best. I suggested he work on his people skills. He spent the next seven minutes suggesting where I could put my suggestion. 

Upon arriving at quarantine at Sydney Airport- Australia's international airport- my traveling companion had neglected to mention he had a granola bar in his bag. A customs official discovered the bar after a quick search and delivered a stern lecture about the dangers of bringing outside species into isolated countries. My friend understanding the importance of the issue, but not the tone in which it was delivered, not-so-politely inquired, “What am I going to do? Plant a fucking granola tree." (true story) We were so close. I could smell the ocean.

Now all of these are legitimate responses to common situations, that for one reason or another, weren't received the way that was intended. The content was lost in the packaging and therefore, the message became something that it was never intended to be. 

Most of the time this is an accident. Either we as social creatures are simply too tired to put the attention and care required to respond to all our everyday situations articulately, or we take for granted the power of our ‘words’ in situations that must seem very different to the two parties involved. 

This is now one of my many missions in my quest to better myself as a communication student, and as a resident of planet earth, to do my due diligence in selecting the appropriate tone when conversing with colleagues in the various scenarios that require my verbal participation.

All it's going to take, is a little more time and a little understanding.  

The odds and error pays? 215.19 to 1.

A recent editing mistake happened in my living-room, that had to be re-told in this editing blog. 

This past weekend marked the start of the NFL season, and as always, there was a full lineup of games on to waste an entire homework-not-getting-done afternoon. It was hard to find a channel that wasn’t showing football, which was good, because the Banjo Bowl just wasn't cutting it.  As the morning sun began to rise, and footballs’ elite players went through their pre-game rituals,  my parents partook in a tradition of their own.

Every Sunday during the football season, my parents go out and buy a Pro Line ticket. They each take two dollars and buy a ticket for a handful of games, that neither of them knows anything about, despite what they'll assure you. This is one of those things that ‘they do’ to make a lazy Sunday afternoon just a little more interesting, and in the rare occasion that one of them actually wins, well– the entire house hears luck being misrepresented as knowledge for the next week or so.

But even in the world of low-stakes sports gambling, editing creeps in. Can you tell me what is wrong with this ticket– despite picking the Sea Hawks to tie?

Yes, that’s right.

Blackburn Rovers and West Bromwich Albion play a slightly different type of football, on a slightly different continent, in an entirely different league. English Premier League (EPL) as a matter of fact.

I’m really hoping this is an error in shading tiny boxes with miniature pencils, rather than a sampling of my parents understanding of the difference between soccer and football. (Though, looking at these picks, I’m not entirely sure)

This tiny mistake, which probably is the result of being in a hurry, could have actually cost some serious coin. Look at the odds on this ticket: 215.19 to 1. Whether that was from betting on four ties, or the fact that an EPL game was on the ticket instead of the Steelers, (which would have lost anyways) is not bad for a two dollar bet. I couldn't imagine what either of my folks would have done, if a simple editing error cost them $430,  but I can tell you, that I would have been there to remind them about it ever week for the next year. 

Oddly enough, Blackburn and West Bromwich actually tied despite 3.30 point spread,  and was the only winning game on the ticket. In this example, not editing actually paid off or potentially would have, had other mistakes also been made. 

Funny how these things work. 

Measure twice and cut once

Those of you who have known me personally for some time have come to understand the different variations and liberties I like to take with the epidermis around my neck and face. My beard has always been the source of my power, and through time, adjustments and alterations for purposes of style, practicality or otherwise, are manipulated at what is seemingly random intervals and reasons. Well, I’m here to tell you that when it comes to my beard, none of what I do is random.

A beard is something that takes time, patience and a lot of thought.

About a month before school started, I began growing the chinstrap goatee beard. It looked rather deviant and somewhat dirty, but I was okay with that, because I knew that in eight short weeks, the final product would be something I could be proud of. The goatee would have been close to two inches long, and would have been accompanied by a shorter #1 cut, attaching the goat to my sideburns and the rest of my hair (which is currently a little bit longer than a #2 right now). I was waiting for this year's first BIG CreComm event, to unveil the final product.

 I was then going to shave out the middle section of the goatee right at the center of my chin, leaving about a half inch gap. With the remaining hair, I would have applied some dread wax that has been kicking around since my bush days, and wax the hair into icicles hanging off the side of my chin. Bad-ass, I know.

Would have looked something like this, but
"dreaded"

Unfortunately, I had to edit my appearance for a meeting where the perseverance and dedication of beard growing may not have been fully understood.

Hence the title of this blog; a phrase I learned from a carpenter friend of mine. Measure twice, cut once.

Unlike editing for writing, music or…. Well, at a quick thought- I’m going to say arts in general- editing ones’ appearance is a one-time shot. You had better be damn sure you know what you’re doing before you begin. In writing, the opportunity exists to try something new, mull it over a little bit and make corrections as nessecary. When I write, the backspace key is easily the key I use most, next to the space bar and the letter E.

In grooming- or carpentry for that matter- that isn’t the case. I have to visualize the final product, and the steps required to get there before I do anything. This often takes a lot longer than most people realize. I don’t wake up in morning and say, “I think this will look cool, let’s do it”. No. I actually spend several days, sometime weeks, coming up with a plan, while I suffer through the painfully, and often sneered at, growing phase.

The reward is pulling of a piece of work, that is both bad-ass and something of a conversation started. Fail, and you look like an idiot. The idiot part is true in the traditional editing sense as well, but is usually soon forgotten. Bad haircuts can last as long as one’s friends have memories.

So here I am, back to square one, with not nearly enough time to see the project through to my initial vision. Thankfully though; unlike editing, if I make a mistake, I will always have another opportunity and my mistakes with my beard are mine and mine alone.

Until next time, remember, if you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough!

Funny, right?

(ps. I would recommend NOT googling “Goatess” unless you really enjoy photos of the male genitalia)