A Twitter Moment

I've had a Twitter account for years. My students pushed me to get an account, and one of my colleagues suggested that I could use Twitter as a teaching tool. My colleague was correct. Currently, Twitter is an amazing tool, but I'm not sure in the way that its creators intended.
Instead of tweeting, I read. I've witnessed the viewpoints of millions of people and some that are vastly different than my own. I have been informed, educated and disgusted, but I have never stopped reading.

Twitter has become the tool of influence. In fact, it can create influencers. Opinions and facts fly out to whoever is interested in reading and participating in social media debates. Often these conversations get a bit rowdy, but there's no violence. Tweets that affect the security of nations have been blocked and in some nations, there is censorship of tweets. But the power of the mind in reading, believing, disproving, arguing and fighting ensures that it will remain in the forefront of social media.

In the mind of this historian, Twitter provides a daily account of our nation. It can be primary or secondary sourcing from knowns and unknowns. There is always something on Twitter that can be used in a college history course or a high school social studies class. I hope that educators will find ways to use the new social media, like Twitter, in informative ways. It might be an informal way to poll opinions, examine theories and ideas, and take a pulse of the world.

To highlight this point, I selected three American based statements from July 30th. I picked these three as they stood out for controversial reasons. Each requires greater scrutiny and an understanding of our political viewpoints. They, in my estimation, provide a framework for why Americans are so divided.

"As the Wall goes up, illegal crossings go down. This past week we built over 10 miles of Wall at our Southern Border. We now have 256 miles of NEW Wall and we are on track to have 300 miles completed by the end of August!" -Donald Trump, Twitter July 30, 2020

You can say a great deal in a limited number of characters. Due to the lack of a narrative, President Trump's statement about the wall signals positive achievements. Without calling this statement an outright lie and false promises, we need the context for the tweet. A class assignment could consist of investigating the need for the wall and the potential for its success. Students could be encouraged to research everything about the history of border walls in the 20th and 21st centuries. They would discover, based on reporting from the Washington Post, that President Trump was addressing a campaign promise pledging 500 miles of new fencing by 2021. Privately, the president knows that he is not going to make that meet that deadline. "A report from Customs and Border Protection sent to reporters on Tuesday shows that 194 miles of wall have indeed been built — including primary walls and secondary walls that act as reinforcement systems. More to the point of Trump’s promise, only 16 miles of the 194 miles that have been constructed were built in places where fencing didn’t already exist. Of the 170 miles of primary wall that have been built, three miles are in places where no barrier existed before." (May 22, 2020)

In regards to the illegal crossings, students can examine statistics from the national agencies and media pronouncements in the United States, Mexico and Canada. US Southern Border Patrols netted 30,076 illegal crossers in February; some 30,384 in March; 16,162 in April; 21,553 in May; 30,721 in June; and 38,347 in July. Perhaps the numbers declined in March and April due to the impact of COVID 19, but their increase since May, June and July clearly dispute the president's statements.

But, what made the president tweet this information on July 30th? The news may or may not produce the answer. On July 29th was a great deal of talk about Wisconsin police departments withdrawing protection agreements for the Democratic National Convention, talk about the funeral for Congressman John Lewis, COVID news, the president's support for a doctor's suspicious COVID cure, Congressman Louie Gohmert testing positive for COVID, and federal law enforcement agencies sent to Portland to end rioting and protect federal buildings. On the 30th, there was a focus on Congressional hearings for Big Tech, teachers leery of going back to school, the NBA restart, further questioning of the president contesting Russian bounties on American troops in Afghanistan, the end of the extra $600 unemployment support, and demonstrations in Russia.

The NBA and NHL Restarts might be a good topic for a deep dive into American culture. Students can investigate the support of the Black Lives Movement through sports. It can force students to look at the origins and focus of the organization. It could also explore the backlash to their protests. Speaking too soon or not realizing the power of a movement, could be used to examine a tweet from the president's son. On the first nights of the NHL's restart all players and coaches stood for the Canadian and American national anthems. "Thank you @NHL #Standing" -Donald Trump, Jr., Twitter July 30, 2020" was a direct slap at the NBA players who wore "Black Lives Matter" warm up shirts and knelt at the playing of the national anthem. While critics would attack Donald Trump Jr. for being insensitive, others would praise his words. Both sides ignored the obvious, the NHL is no longer solely a white sport and that white empathy for social conditions does exist in the NHL. Protest is part of patriotism. On August 1st, Matt Dumba, a Canadian of European and Filipino heritage and star defensemen for the Minnesota Wild, made a public statement before the Oilers-Black Hawks game. Dumba said: "I know first-hand, as a minority playing the great game of hockey, the unexplainable and difficult challenges that come with it, ... "Black Lives Matter. Breonna Taylor's life matters. Hockey is a great game, but it could be a whole lot greater, and it starts with all of us." And later than evening, he became the first NHL player to knell on the playing of the American national anthem. Two days later, Ryan Reaves and Robin Lehner of the Vegas Golden Knights and Jason Dickinson and Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars knelt before the start of their contest. What is critical is that players of various races and nationalities supported Black Lives Matter and debunked the younger Trump's belief that white athletes would not knell. Subsequently a movement #Knell4Hockey started trending. (Matt Perez, Forbes August 3, 2020) Athletes in every American team sport (WNBA, MLS, NBA, MLB, NHL) have now knelt.

"John Lewis’s funeral was in Georgia. Dozens of Members of Congress were there. Georgia is on Washington DC Mayor Bowser’s list of states that require 2 week mandatory quarantine for 14 days Are these politicians going into quarantine, or are rules just for the little people?" -Buck Sexton, Twitter July 30, 2020

I think this is a great comment on the socio-economic and political divisions caused by left and right views on COVID 19. It can be used to show how America has the highest rates of infections and deaths. I posit that Mr. Sexton's tweet exposes the conflicts in not having a national health policy concerning the pandemic. While identifying what he sees as the hypocrisy of the quarantine orders, I feel Sexton refuses to acknowledge that politicians are not subject to the same rules as the common people. I think we concur that politicians are often above "common laws." However, his focus is racially and politically based. Sexton a former CIA officer and current conservative media commentator, is hardly a neutral voice. But that is fine. Students need to be open to as many perspectives as possible. We, as Americans, should try to find common areas of agreement. Maybe, students will come to their own opinions and it can form the basis for a lively debate.

My moderate views suggest that maybe it should tell us that politicians should stay in Washington for the duration of the crisis, wear masks in public, and follow guidelines when traveling on trains and airplanes? Or perhaps that a mass gathering of people honoring a national treasure should not have been allowed. However, the ironic part of the statement is its in Georgia where people don't have to wear masks or adhere to other suggestions offered by the CDC, which just happens to be headquartered in that state.

These tweets were among the first on my Twitter feed on July 30th. Another person, who follows other people or groups might have discovered other interesting points and comments. However, this small experiment demonstrates the reach of social media and the potential degree of influence that it has on the nation and the world. I think historians have under-estimated the power of social media in their work. I believe social media provides historians with new areas to mine for data. Alone, these three tweets might spur solid research and conversation that can form the basis for scholarly articles and books and classroom tools for educators to explore American culture.