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I think its worth considering who we are writing for when we "Dunk" on D'Souza (I have seen some people complaining it just gives him attention). He has over a million followers so if all of my followers decide to go look at his feed it doesn't drastically increase his exposure.
Quite the opposite. If he replies to us, it increases our exposure ten fold. Far more people will read my tweets than will read my academic writing. Yes, he is an easy target (almost a straw man), but that doesn't make it any less useful as an outreach tool to teach with.
I am aware he knows better and doesn't care. His insincerity is irrelevant. I don't tweet for him but for others interested in the past. Many of the new followers I've gained over the last few days are not professors but high school teachers or people just interested in history.
They can use our research in conversations with friends and students to make sure others do not fall for the D'Souza BS. They are the people that matter. They are why I tweet. To give them the tools to talk to their communities & keep educating Americans beyond just my classroom.
Dunking serves as a means of exposing hundreds of people to our own research & as an educational tool. Our tweets might potentially reach some folks who read his threads not knowing better. It seems obvious to us that the parties realigned but not to everyone reading his threads.
Some of his followers likely see him as just a conservative viewpoint for them to consider. Debunking may lead them to consider additional viewpoints as well (and even if it doesn't it is still valuable to remind future historians these lies didn't go unchallenged).
Fact checking alone isn't enough. Pointing out the lie is not enough. We need to start discussing the purpose of his lies as well. We need the public to consider why he and others are lying. We need to discuss the harm these lies do (and many of us our pointing that out too)
I know that dunking on a Dartmouth grad will make me look elitist to those who expect me to be an elitist. (They were always going to see me that way). I can accept that if it lets me educate those on twitter seeking actual history & not answering D'Souza seems just as elitist.
So go ahead and dunk away. Use D'Souza to advance your own work. Gain some followers. Increase the strength of your own voice. Keep fighting the good fight. For those #Twitterstorians tired of hearing the same things, just mute the word D'Souza and him help.twitter.com/en/using-twitt…
There are issues with academic twitter that dunking exposes and shines light on, and I am glad my friends are calling them out. But I think we should be careful about ignoring how important it is for us to call out historical lies that justify white supremacy & other bad things.
It is clear that D'Souza's views are becoming more mainstream on the right so we can't ignore them. So keep up the good work @KevinMKruse and other #twitterstorians. Keep teaching the public about your research.
