Twitterfall

On Friday, I was running some fairly long tests at work.  It was one of those jobs that needed to be done but didn't really tax the brain cells, actually a pretty good option for a Friday afternoon.  To help pass the time, I opened a web browser up to the twitterfall site.  I had this window running mostly in the background but I could see the messages scrolling by along the left margin of my screen.

Twitterfall is basically a site where you can watch twitter traffic.  You can specify search tags and topics to narrow what you see.  I usually put in something like "dinkytown" and then I watch to see who's tweeting around me.  It's usually pretty mundane stuff, like "I'm at Espresso Royale on 14th, leaving soon." I started using the site during the recent upheaval in Iran.  It was interesting to watch the messages and try to sort reality from propaganda.  After awhile, I'd settled in on a couple of people whose tweets convinced me they were actually in Iran and witnessing events.  I tuned in regularly for a few days filtering so I only saw messages from them or referencing them.  They were frequent tweeters and it was a little startling when one day there were suddenly no messages from or about them.  I don't know why they stopped, if it was voluntary or if something happened to them.  Either way, it was a reminder that even though we shared a part of the internet, their world was very different from mine.  It makes the local tweets seem all the more trivial and mundane.  Here, we have freedom to express ourselves and the best we can come up with is "I'm leaving McDs, spilled Big Mac sauce on my shorts."

On Friday I chose a new search term for twitterfall to follow.  The ELCA was having its convention in Minneapolis and, being a good Lutheran boy, I figured I'd check out what was going on.  After a few general searches, I landed on a couple of search tags that seemed specific to the convention itself.  The messages were interesting enough that it was difficult to keep the window in the background.  It was a strange mix.  There were a number of tweets that I assume were humorous but I think you had to go to seminary to get the joke.  Many of the messages were regarding the fact that they were not supposed to be tweeting from the convention floor.  Intermixed with these messages was a mostly respectful debate about the primary topic of the day; the proposal to allow gays and lesbians in monogamous relationships to serve as clergy members.  I was impressed with the level of discourse on the topic.  To be sure, there were some inflammatory comments from those on both sides of the issue.  But mostly, what I witnessed was a number of people genuinely concerned about the church, trying to understand the ramifications of a decision either way.  I closed the window before the vote took place so I don't know if the tenor changed afterward or not.  I like to believe that an air of respect was maintained.

Now, I'm no pastor and I'm not gay.  In fact, I only know a few openly gay people.  I am probably one of the least qualified people to offer an opinion on this topic.  I have, however, been Lutheran my entire life and I know what feels right to me.  But, I know there are plenty of good Lutherans out there that feel just the opposite.  Maybe they're right and I'm off base.  I just don't know.  I do know that the outcome of the vote brought great joy and great pain to many people.  I hope the church takes delicate steps as it moves forward.

In any event, it was good to see some local tweeting that rose above the mundane.