The Chicago Review of Books is saying goodbye to Twitter/X for reasons you’ve probably already guessed, because why be part of a crypto-neo-Nazi-hellsphere when we could, just, well, not.
This, by the way, is not meant to be a controversial stance. It should not be controversial to get off an app whose algorithm only promotes one side of the story, it really should be just normal behavior, like flossing your teeth, cleaning out your earwax with something other than a Q-tip, or not cutting funds to the National Endowment for the Arts. But alas, it has become controversial, and thus, so must we. The Chicago Review of Books—along with StoryStudio Chicago, Arcturus, and the Chicago Writers Podcast—can no longer choose to be part of a platform that gives propaganda a voice over the people.
While I’m very proud to be the CHIRB’s social media manager, and have enjoyed my past few months here immensely, I’ll be honest, I am absolutely terrified of what these companies are doing to understand our psychology to grab and hook us into a life online. Even as I write this, I keep grabbing my phone to mindlessly scroll. My divided attention reminds me of characters in “Harrison Bergeron,” a short, satirical fiction piece by Kurt Vonnegut, taking place in a futuristic United States. The story begins like this:
“The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal…this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.”
The smartest people in the United States in 2081, the piece goes on to say, had to wear mental handicap radios in their ears, hearing frequent buzzing so that they wouldn’t take “unfair advantage of their brains.” If Vonnegut were alive today, I think he would be unwavering in his social critique that we have voluntarily purchased devices stealing our attention away in this matter. And although much can be said about certain benefits of social media and modern technology, this buzzing, coupled with scrolling through information designed to mislead us, is bringing us much more quickly into the world he imagined.
Yes, it’s chilling. Yes, it’s dystopian. Yes, we here at the CHIRB are going to write and resist and do our best to not be complacent or compliant over the next few years.
We have a responsibility to use our voices to make art. They want us to be scared, or to be so desensitized or misinformed that we don’t think there’s any reason to fight back. But, luckily for us, we’ve read dystopian fiction. We know how this goes. And leaving X seems like a great place to start.
In the beginning, Twitter’s slogan was “Let’s talk.” X’s slogan has since become “Blaze your glory!” And by leaving the platform, that’s exactly what we’ll do. You can find and follow us on Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads. Let’s talk there.
I applaud your decision!
same!