Twitter's rebrand to X can't hide how few quality voices are left on the site 

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Over a year ago, I pretty much abandoned Twitter. It's "pretty much" since, as I've written, my fat thumbs somehow managed to create a new account at the same time as I deleted the old one.

Since I didn't even know the credentials for the new me, I couldn't delete it. So, like the town drunk who can't quite leave the bar at closing time, I've found myself perusing Twitter to see what mess I left behind. And doing so makes me like the town drunk who takes up drinking beer instead of whiskey as a method of sobering up.

To be sure, Twitter has rebranded as "X" but, like all other marketing rebrands, I am yet to adopt the new naming. I still say "Mormon" in most references to my neighbors who outnumber me. I can credit or blame my pioneer-stock Mormon grandmother for that with one notable variation: she pronounced her fellow ward members as Marmons. I've never asked for a bourbon and New Coke. My F-10 was a Datsun, not a Nissan. Twitter will not be "X" for me.

I think I've been pretty good at not falling prey to Twitter (X) thus far, having tweeted (X'd?) a paltry few times (I just had one beer, honest) but have more often "liked" a tweet here and there. Yes, Lord, I've sinned.

Besides using the analogy of a drunk taken to sobering up in the worst of ways, I could've also said I've forsaken Coke for Diet Coke, or two scoops of ice cream for one. But not often being on Twitter (X) has helped me become more sensitive to the local culture here that would take umbrage at such notions because they'd feel I was mocking them. Nope, I'm mocking me.

Truth is, I wasn't a very good citizen on Twitter. Like too many others, I fell into the trap of actually thinking that a lonely troll out there with 38 followers held some kind of societal sway, so I'd get all pissed off and type out a cheap and insulting reply that included hurling insults into the great ether of Twitter (X) nothingness. To nobody's surprise, the troll did not—nor did anyone I ever interacted with—change their opinions about whatever it was that pissed me off. Meanwhile, I was left counting followers, likes and shares as some kind of measuring stick of my own status and cleverness.

At the end of the day, Twitter (X) was and is a fool's game. Oh, enough of the name shaming—it's Twitter, not X, and it was useful for a time. But in this era of people never having to be accountable for the lies they tell, Twitter was the great place to become an even better liar.

I've known lots of great liars, but in the days before Twitter, someone in some dark bar would kick the snot out of them before they could tell more lies. Twitter is mostly anonymous and removed from such in-your-face retribution. Indeed, Twitter is a safe haven for all liars and miscreants. Trying to find truth on Twitter is like trying to find the light aroma of a Calla Lily inside a barn full of farting cows.

Before going on too long about farts and cows, I must point out that not everyone or every item on Twitter is one of those or the other. As example, one of my former Twitter favorites—and a man whom I still secretly enjoy following on Twitter because I admire his truth and tenacity—is Kenny Akers (@keneakers).

If you are prone to thinking openly and honestly on any racial topic, Akers is the perfect follow. He never fails to prod one to consider new ideas and truths and is never shy about standing proudly for the accomplishments of Black citizens from any era.

I consider his voice to be one of the strongest against hate speech, and it's comforting to know people like him still exist. Because, after all, Twitter is doing all it can to erase the honest discussions that Akers avows.

What Akers is able to do is even more amazing because he is rooted here in Utah, surrounded by persons who were never even slightly educated about the issues he raises daily. His posts now garner the attention of free thinkers across an entire spectrum of geography, political parties and ethnicities.

He's worked incredibly hard to not only keep his message on point, but to always hone the pointed end of his commentary. He has somehow managed to become on Twitter what Twitter should have always been: a place to grow, share and learn.

It's trite, but it's mostly true, too: Donald Trump made Twitter worse. He was the fartingest of all farting cows, he was rewarded for that and he opened the barn door to include more farting cows along the way. You know who they are—Reps. Jason Chaffetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert come quickly to mind, each a second-rate congressperson with first-rate ambition and each lacking the common courtesy of placing country (God, even) before party and personal ambition.

The ability to lie without consequence is freeing for some. But what if you're a person living the lie of decorum and respect but who—like a pitied town drunk—cannot leave his affection for the gifted life of entitled jerk behind? You do what Sen. Mike Lee did.

A couple years back he rebranded under the alter ego Twitter handle of @basedmikelee, where he amazingly trades on the good name of "U.S. Senator" for that of a farting cow. Read the tweets of both Mike Lee and Based Mike Lee. Which is the man representing Utah? And which is the X? Either way, we're paying too much for his based X nonsense.

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