Darren Jamieson: Hey! On this episode of The Engaging Marketeer, I’ve got a bit of a rant—as you were probably expecting.
Recently, I took to Twitter, or X as Elon Musk has now decided to call it, and I found it to be the worst cesspool of disgusting human beings in the entire galaxy.
Now, I don’t know if you’re a Twitter user or if you abandoned it when Elon took over, but Twitter was never particularly good. It always leaned towards the right-wing, full of people who want to pull up the ladder after getting ahead themselves—anti-immigrant, anti-benefits, the kind who think anyone on the sick should be destroyed.
But there used to be a balance. There were decent people on Twitter. And, importantly, Twitter used to block the truly vile accounts—like Donald Trump, for example. But when Elon Musk took over and rebranded it as X, one of his first moves was to bring back all those banned accounts. So, all the real nasty people are back.
[01:20]
Darren Jamieson: Before, when you reported something disgusting, Twitter would take it down and often ban the account. Now, it doesn’t. You can pretty much say whatever you want on Twitter, and nothing happens.
If you haven’t used Twitter before, I’m really not selling it to you, am I? And quite frankly, nor should I.
But there is one good thing Twitter is for: engagement-baiting morons.
Bear with me.
This past weekend—this was recorded on May 3rd, so we’re talking about the weekend before—I received a leaflet through my door from a political candidate running in the local elections. It was from a group called The Party of Women (ironically). They’ve only been around a few weeks, with five or six candidates across the UK, started by a woman who is, quite frankly, a transphobic right-wing bigot.
The leaflet was packed with transphobic slurs, essentially saying trans women aren’t women, they’re men, and that they shouldn’t be allowed in women’s spaces.
I posted this on Twitter to highlight how transphobic it was.
[03:15]
Darren Jamieson: And then, I was attacked. By hundreds of transphobic bigots, relentlessly bombarding me with abuse for a full week. My original tweet? Over 300,000 views by today.
Even Sharron Davies, the former Olympic swimmer and Gladiators star, got involved. Now, without getting into the political debate, Sharron takes a strong stance on transgender issues in sport. And I get it—trans women competing in sports like swimming do have advantages. I don’t know the right answer to that debate, maybe a new category should be introduced. But the solution is not putting leaflets through doors saying trans women aren’t women.
[04:34]
Darren Jamieson: Now, if I had posted this on Facebook or LinkedIn, none of this would have happened.
But Twitter? Twitter has no accountability. Profiles are anonymous—fake names, fake locations, fake pictures. There are no consequences.
Of course, it isn’t truly anonymous.
I literally wrote the book on tracing fake profiles. I’ll link that below this podcast, by the way. I also delivered a TEDx talk on it. You’d think these trolls would have figured that out before attacking me.
[05:46]
Darren Jamieson: Their first claim? That “transphobia” isn’t a real word. They argued that “phobia” comes from Greek, meaning “fear,” and since they aren’t afraid of trans people, transphobia isn’t real.
All words are made up. That’s how language works. Words evolve.
Then they tried arguing that transphobia isn’t bigotry because trans women aren’t women and therefore aren’t a minority.
No. That is exactly what bigotry is. You’re denying their right to exist.
And of course, they were relentless. There were hundreds of them, spamming the same nonsense over and over.
[06:56]
Darren Jamieson: Then they started going back through 15 years of my tweets. Everything I had ever said, they were digging up and twisting against me.
One example? A joke from Mock the Week that I quoted years ago about kids running around restaurants. Suddenly, I was “advocating for violence against children.”
Another? A tweet where I once wrote, “I sent you my penis.” No context, no memory of it. I definitely didn’t actually send someone my penis. It was probably some joke referencing a meme or something. But that one got spammed at me repeatedly.
[07:28]
Darren Jamieson: Oh, and here’s the best part—I was called homophobic because I support trans rights. The logic?
If you support trans rights, it means you think men shouldn’t be gay, they should be trans instead.
What?!
[09:48]
Darren Jamieson: Again, none of this would have happened on LinkedIn or Facebook. People don’t post bigotry under their real names because they know it’s wrong. They know their employers and family would see it.
But Twitter? It’s all anonymous trolls.
And speaking of employers, these trolls even went after Engage Web. One of them tweeted at the company account saying, “Does this guy still work for you?”
No, I don’t work for Engage Web. I own it.
[10:28]
Darren Jamieson: So, what’s the point of this podcast?
Stay the hell away from Twitter.
It’s a cesspool. The worst cross-section of humanity you’ll ever see. No matter what you say, someone will twist it and use it against you. And since Elon Musk allows it, nothing can stop it.
Unless I decide to trace these trolls and expose them—which, believe me, I could—but I’ve got better things to do.
[11:38]
Darren Jamieson: Apologies for the rant. Consider this a public service announcement: Twitter isn’t for business, it’s just for arguing with idiots.
That said, it does get you great engagement.
See you on the next podcast!
