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first, clarity and directness are separate attributes its possible to write with great lucidity while also selectively misdirecting your audience about your meaning; and vice versa https://t.co/IR3MFjfU0O
second, writing has multiple communicative modes, as does speaking. for example, perhaps you are writing as if from a pulpit to convey information primarily in one direction to a broad audience. in this case direct and clear language may be optimal. there are other modes!
you may also--for example--engage with a single person in mutual conversance; or hold forth at a party, with frequent interjections from a small audience. by and large, tweeting is often more akin to these scenarios in its dynamic. there is one salient difference, however
while at a party, or in a discussion with a single person, it's likely you are familiar with your interlocutor(s), and that you like them and can easily reach a kind of resonance that is: your audience is in a sense pre-filtered. on twitter, this very much does not obtain
_clarity_ of conveyance remains important in this case, but the utility of directness may be subverted: for by selectively reducing directness one may minimize the likelihood that hostile passers-by and wet blankets will alight on your pleasant conversation
if this is the sort of conversation in which your heart delights--intimate, but open to new like minds and unbounded by geography--there is no invention of the age greater than twitter dot com but you must use a bit of art to select for winsome interlocutors
that reason is that indirection and misdirection are FUN esotericism gratifies and flatters the careful reader who takes a bit of effort to identify your meaning reading and writing puzzles should spark joy https://t.co/N2FsFJPciY
a final advantage of indirection is the sense of mutual comprehension engendered between the understanding reader and the esoteric writer. you now share a pleasant secret; your worlds are a bit less lonely, a bit warmer. that's worth a lot.
i love this framing https://t.co/iEvUyCkY7o