Via First Thoughts, I just found this delightful post on 19 logical arguments against Twitter. Here is one of my favorites:
Virtue Ethics Argument
(1) One ought always to act in good faith.
(2) Therefore, if one Twitters, one ought always to Twitter in good faith.
(3) One can Twitter in good faith only if one believes one’s life to be so important as to merit the attention of others.
(4) It is narcissistic to believe one’s life to be so important as to merit the attention of others.
(5) Therefore, one can Twitter in good faith only if one is narcissistic.
(6) Narcissism is not a virtue.
(7) Therefore, one can Twitter only if one is unvirtuous.
(8) Therefore, one ought not to Twitter.
Or, if you are of a more Augustinian mindset:
Augustinian Argument
(1) Evil is essentially the lack of goodness.
(2) It is good to be able to use more than 140 characters to communicate.
(3) Twitter prevents one from using more than 140 characters to communicate.
(4) Therefore, Twitter lacks goodness.
(5) Therefore, Twitter is evil.
One of the recent challenges that I have come across in the “GA teaching freshman comp courses world” is that one can’t teach writing unless the student understands logic. No students in state universities understand logic. Ergo, one can’t teach them writing (I know, Romulus, faulty premise? I know…). But this list of arguments against tweeting is a great exercise in logic, and rather fun. Check it out.
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