What's Right with Auspol?

So, what's wrong with Auspol? Some people seem to be getting worked up into a fever over it. To me, the whole point of twitter is to micro blog. If that means you want to blog about Australian Politics then tweet about it.

If you don’t want to be known by the millions of users who use twitter then good for you. It’s not up to somebody else to come and dictate what twitter is or is not. 

Twitter and the people I've come to speak with on the 'dreaded' Auspol hashtag have turned out to be very decent people. That's from the Left and the Right. 

Auspol is a place of many things, from serious political discussion to pointless insults and even parody accounts of Australian politicians (some funny, some pure nonsense). That is the charm and the cesspit of Auspol. I don’t have a problem with other people expressing an opinion using the Auspol hashtag; in fact I find that having a twitter feed like Auspol is a good thing that helps us build a better and more robust discussion on issues we find of importance to us as a country. We can disagree with each other and throw insults but I find on other issues and in normal discussions that people are just people with opinions. Sometimes we agree at other times we don’t.

There are light moments when tweeple joke around and then there are times when I have to sit back and bite my tongue because somebody made an idiotic comment. I'm also one of those people who have made such idiotic comments before so I'm not making out as if I'm beyond reproach.  

My point is that Auspol is a unique part of Australian political chatter. It can be improved upon and people should have the right to engage in political discussion without fear of bullying or being called names. BUT, you have to admit that the population of Auspol are very passionate about our future, regardless of what side of the divide they sit on. This at least makes me think that we have hope yet. 

I couldn’t care less if you don’t use your own name, as long as you are making a contribution in what manner you like to political discourse then that's okay with me. If you don’t want to hear what people have to say on Auspol then the solution is not to visit it. Block the hashtag and find other ways to engage on twitter. 

At the very least be around long enough to know how people tweet and what they mean by those tweets. Not everybody has the ability to type exactly what they want to say in 140 characters, so you need to take people's opinions lightly until you get to know them better.

What's right with Auspol is what's right with Australia. We all like to have a dig at each other but for the most part it is not malicious or slanderous, it’s just the way we are.

(Okay, the Auspol Wars image is lame but I can’t be bothered finding a more suitable one.)