intercourse with biscuits a modern miscellany

There’s currently a campaign on Twitter to ensure that Stephen Fry, that godfather of British twitterers, does not desert the site for good. This afternoon he published the following Tweet:

“Think I may have to give up on Twitter. Too much aggression and unkindness around. Pity. Well, it’s been fun.”

The tweet that broke the camel’s back appears to have been a tweet from a member of the public that called Fry’s tweets “boring”. The user @brumplum was responding to a friend who stated that he “didn’t understand any of @stephenfry’s tweets” and included an @reply to Fry in his tweet which read:

“@JimJamming I underdstand @stephenfry’s tweets but, much as I admire and adore the chap, they are a bit… boring…. (sorry Stephen)”

Hardly a brutal and violent attack. Actually, just an opinion, phrased politely but perhaps unwisely including the person being discussed in the discussion. I suspect that this comment is not really what has so upset Stephen Fry and that for all it’s fun and games, Twitter has sometimes been a window for him into a world where criticism is more visceral and real time than even the newspaper reviews which he once found painful.

Stephen Fry has been very brave and honest about his bipolar disorder and is prone to some extremely dark periods. It seems that @brumplum simply got caught up in the latest storm. I don’t think that Stephen Fry would be in favour of hounding him or searching through his online life for ways to attack him. It’s petty and pointless and suggests that Stephen Fry, a man of formidable intelligence and myriad talents is unable to defend himself or make his own decisions.

Twitter is no more aggressive or unkind than the real world, it is a giant room full of people throwing around opinions. In many respects this is simply a modern version of Fry’s famous disappearance during the West End run of the play Cellmates. Things have got too much for him and he has had to remove himself from the situation. He has even said so himself in his “final” tweet:

“Well maybe I’ll see how I feel in a few days. Very low and depressed at the moment and any drop of meaness makes it so much worse. Sorry.”

This is the Internet version of Fry’s famous flit during a West End production of the play Cellmates. He was truly struggling at the time and has subsequently discussed the incident with honesty. I hope he is not so unwell this time and that he gets over the dark feelings he is experiencing right now.

But to those who will turn their ire on poor old @brumplum, I’ll say this: give the guy a break. He never expected Stephen Fry to even read his tweet. He’s apologised for inadvertently upsetting him but is now the target of an unfocused hate mob. Most Twitter users like to think of themselves as better than Daily Mail readers. This behaviour doesn’t chime well with that. If you believe Stephen Fry is right to say that there’s too much aggression and unkindness on Twitter, you’re just adding to it.