The first round of observations was so popular (especially on Twitter!), I thought I'd add a few more based on things I've learned and observed the last couple of months.
1. I came across this interesting chart via Justin Weinberg's blog, which shows that the vast majority of U.S. adults do not use Twitter at all (thank God!), and that usage varies, unsurprisingly, by generation. 38% of those 18-29 use Twitter (the highest percentage), while only 7% of those over 65 use it. I'm in the distinct minority in my age range (only 17% of those 50-64 use it), and I mostly use it to provide links to the blog for the benefit the readers who now follow the blog by Twitter.
2. This data is consistent with an e-mail shared on Twitter awhile back by the journalist Jesse Singal:
"[T]he vast majority of both psychologically healthy and accomplished philosophers stay off twitter like their life depends on it. The vast majority of people I know in academic philosophy either ignore, mock, or disdain philosophy twitter." - professional philosopher in email
Although many Twitterati reacted with rage and denial to Mr. Singal's tweet, the claim about "the vast majority" is consistent with the data about usage by age alone. (Are the non-users psychologically healthier and more accomplished? Probably, but the preceding data are neutral on that.) I strongly suspect that relatively few non-Twitter users "mock or disdain philosophy twitter" (although that would be a warranted response were they to look), and that most simply ignore it.
3. It's certainly true that the vast, vast majority of philosophy faculty are not on Twitter. Look at any PhD-granting program, or any undergraduate school, at random, and you'll find typically only one or two faculty using Twitter, if that, and even fewer active users. The contrast with academic law is striking. At Chicago, at least half my law colleagues are on Twitter (this is not atypical for law faculties either), whereas not even a quarter of my philosophy colleagues here are on Twitter. What explains the difference? Here's my best guess: journalists make very heavy use of Twitter (it's hard to find a journalist who doesn't have a Twitter account, although I've not looked systematically). Law faculty are often sought out by journalists for their expert opinions about legal matters, so law faculty find it an effective way to connect with journalists.
4. Obama used to joke that if he only got his news from Fox, he wouldn't have supported himself, since the person portrayed there was a caricature, spiced up with fabrications and misleading spin. A segment of philosophy Twitter, dominated as it is by ferociously "woke" philosophy faculty and especially students, does to me what Fox did to Obama. As I observed awhile back to a colleague elsewhere who was surprised by this (she was the one who actually coined the apt term "wokerati"), this is partly generational: most Twitter users are too young to remember when I started warning students about “sexual predator faculties” back in 2009, or led the charge that same year for the APA to actually enforce its anti-discrimination policy with respect to universities that discriminate against gay men and women.
5. What now gets me in trouble with that Twitter crowd is that I also believe in academic freedom (including for those with "unwoke" views), which is one reason I gave attention to the “gender critical” feminists in the UK like Kathleen Stock and Sophie Allen. The wokerati hate those folks, and I simply was assimilated to them despite repeatedly condemning anti-trans policies (actually, many gender critical feminists also oppose these policies, but Twitter has no time for nuance). Add to this that I think adults in their late 20s who speak and act in public can be criticized in public like other adults, even when they're graduate students, and it makes me an irresistible target for Fox-style caricature.
Kein Hirt und Eine Heerde! Jeder will das Gleiche, Jeder ist gleich: wer anders fühlt, geht freiwillig in’s Irrenhaus.
„Ehemals war alle Welt irre“—sagen die Feinsten und blinzeln.
Man ist klug und weiss Alles, was geschehn ist: so hat man kein Ende zu spotten.
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