Hi friends, 

There’s lots to cover this week, so let’s get right into it. 

‍The fall of Twitter

As I’m sure you already know, Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, recently bought Twitter— and it’s been a nightmare ever since. 

Since the formal acquisition was completed, Musk has fired the Twitter board making himself sole director of the multi-billion dollar company and introduced a verification subscription plan (enabling any user to buy a coveted blue check mark for just eight dollars a month) while documenting the process on his own Twitter account. 

Just this morning, reports broke indicating Musk ordered his mostly remote-working employee base back to office, and warned them of “difficult times ahead”. 

According to The New York Times, Musk told employees that they are far overstaffed (even after mass layoffs) and that remaining workers need to get more, “hard core”. Yikes. 

For those of us who are chronically on Twitter like myself, I’ve watched as some of my favourite creators have begun to accept that the platform is rapidly going to shit. 

Journalists and writers who I love and admire are becoming increasingly more worried about the legitimacy of their work moving forward. Though Musk has joked about how his new rollouts will bring comedy and “free speech” back to the platform, prominent accounts that have made jokes at his expense have mysteriously been suspended. 

I’ve even seen creators who have built their networks through Twitter express that they’re moving their work to Instagram full-time. 

I certainly have to set my boundaries with Twitter, like any other social media platform, but there’s so much joy that has come with the connectivity that the app provides. I don’t want to see it go down in flames.

I spent my formative years on Twitter (which is definitely not a flex), and I’d hate to see it come to a crashing halt because Elon Musk is doing whatever he wants, simply because he can. 

Let’s just hope he knows what he’s doing. 

‍Brown Twitter gets judgy…again

I find that there’s two main types of Brown Twitter that end up on my timeline: one, that opens up thought-provoking conversations about the culture, and the other, that enjoys dunking on people for not knowing as much as they know. 

I recently came across a few tweets on my timeline that were shaming people for posting, and not posting about Gurpurab, a day that celebrates the birth of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev Ji.

One person tweeted that posting to Instagram for Gurpurab doesn’t win you any points. 

Another tweeted that he was disappointed seeing more people posting on social media at the AP Dhillon concert than on Gurpurab. 

There’s just no winning.

Over time I’ve noticed that parts of Brown Twitter are very quick to shame, guilt, and isolate members of our community who may not  have had access to pathways that enabled folks to learn about our religion and culture in a safe and loving environment.

Not many people know this about me, but I spent a good chunk of my life feeling alienated from Sikhi because I learned about it in a harmful and toxic environment.

My relationship with Sikhi was deeply wounded in my young life by people who taught me that my religious practice should be rooted in fear, shame, and self-hatred. It took me a long time to be able to repair my relationship with Sikhi and to view it as a pillar of my life that cultivates love, belonging, and acceptance in every sphere of my life.

It’s so easy to look down on people for what they don’t know. It takes so little effort to create a false sense of superiority simply because one person had the opportunity to learn what others didn’t. 

On the other hand, it takes considerably more care and patience to create spaces safe enough for people to learn about their culture and religion at any stage in life—through loving interactions rather than judgment. 

If we spent more time doing that, we probably wouldn’t have the time to sit around judging what people post or don’t post on their personal Instagram accounts. 

There’s an in-depth, critical analysis of this topic that I’ll write one day. But that day is not today.

See you next week, 

Jeevan

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