All creatures reach the end of their evolutionary journey, some suddenly, some over geologic time. If they’re clever, they can evade the Grim Reaper by evolving into something more suited to their environment, as some land-bound dinosaurs evolved to take to the sky or sea. In other cases, small wily mammals found a niche and exploited it; those they displaced became footnotes in the fossil record.
Not wishing to join these unfortunates, I have attempted to extend what relevance I may have earned by shifting my focus from Daily Kos to Twitter. Some of you may wonder, quite rightly, who the hell I am, since I have posted only three diaries in 2015 and 2016. My fossil record in previous years reveals prolific writing, enjoyed by a small fire-side-chat sized audience of fellow Daily Kos eclectics who made my time here very worthwhile.
The irony of my evolutionary journey is that it was Markos who insisted that we all “needed” to be on Facebook or Twitter to propagate our messaging. Thus, I established an account on Twitter and have since grown it to over 9,000 followers. The immediacy and diversity of content and participants delighted me. I love interacting with people around the world with whom I have plenty — or nothing — in common.
I didn’t forget Daily Kos. Every day when I encountered tweeted-out diaries of merit, I checked them out and retweeted them my followers to amplify their signal and give the authors wider and well-deserved visibility. They also serve who simply do this task on a regular and continuing basis.
Yesterday’s Ides of March pronouncement came to my attention via a “Boycott Daily Kos" hashtag on Twitter. I read Markos’ post and took it as my sign to move on. It’s his site, his rules. My situation is simple: I’ve supported Bernie Sanders since last summer through monthly contributions. I proudly voted for him on Day 1 of early voting here in North Carolina. I will dutifully if not cheerfully vote for the eventual Democrat nominee whether or not it’s Bernie.
Extinction in paleontology and in politics moves on its own timeline. The Grim Reaper is far more patient than we are. If he’s willing to take the long view, so am I. In the interim, I’d rather spend my time among those who believe in their dreams, rather than those who tell us to grow up and set them aside.