In Defence of Gaeltwitter: A Rebuttal to Creeve Rua

This essay was originally featured on the Substack ‘Culture Crusade’.

To begin with, I’m conscious that in writing this defence, I am simultaneously critiquing Creeve Rua’s article titled Against Gaeltwitter and Wasted Intellect, and helping him achieve his goal, which was almost certainly to spark a conversation on the telos of Gaeltwitter. In that sense, his article warrants a generous measure of both praise and criticism, for whether one takes umbrage at his statements or thinks them astute, the topic is now openly discussed either way. The means may be questionable, inciting even, but can be justified if the ends involve something tangible being derived from the controversy. So when I see such pot-stirring —the calling out of mutuals in all but name, and so on— I reason that “Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.” But that aside, I am here to defend Gaeltwitter, whose characterisation as a ‘pernicious release valve’ I cannot abide. While long-form content is something we can continue to develop, this should not come at the cost of undermining the value and production of short-form content by Gaeltwitter. In fact, as I will argue, short-form content has many unique virtues of its own.

As a tangential point, I should mention that there was also discussion about the Irish language brought about by this essay. Of course, one of the primary end goals of a nationalist digital sphere should be the proliferation of content in its native tongue, but this is taking place and gathering pace recently, and is ultimately a more low-time horizon goal to bring to fruition. It was not the main point of the essay, to which I turn now.

After conceding that Gaeltwitter is brimming with some of Ireland’s most talented minds and that it provides ample stimulating, informative, and funny content, Creeve Rua lays out his issue with it.

“I can’t help but come to the conclusion that Gaeltwitter acts as an incredibly pernicious release valve or playpen for Ireland’s greatest minds. Without any sort of end product—whether that be a compendium of posts, the creation of a few Substacks, etc.—all this wonderful work feels like nothing more than a type of limited hangout.” – Creeve Rua

If I may distil the argument down to its most basic premises, which I think capture the core of the argument (I’m taking some liberties here as premise one is more or less implied in several passages if not stated explicitly). Premise 1: Long-form end products are superior to short-form content (such as Twitter posts). Premise 2: Gaeltwitter lacks a tangible long-form end product (e.g., compendium, Substacks, books). Conclusion: Without a long-form end product, Gaeltwitter’s output has an inferior impact, confining its best minds to a release valve.

So, certainly a valid argument, but I think there is reason to doubt the first premise. There is reason for scepticism about the innate inferiority of shorter form content, the category into which the majority of Gaeltwitter’s output can surely be placed. So firstly, what is Twitter really? Let me summon a McLuhanism to help elucidate the matter; ‘The medium is the message’, and thus Twitter as a medium unquestionably facilitates a certain type of discourse. Yes, there is variety and people can post in various lengths, tonality and humour, but Twitter is mostly not conducive to the type of longer form content crafted for digital posterity. Its structure —short, character-limited posts, rapid-fire interactions, and algorithmic amplification— defines the kind of discourse it fosters, a discourse characterised by brevity, wit, dispute and polemic. It is amazingly effective as a propaganda tool for raising awareness, building and connecting communities, bringing like-minded posters together, and these strengths are rightfully utilised. As a medium, it is ultimately an instantaneous and fragmented one, defined mostly by a mosaic of takes that momentarily occupy the timeline.

Frankly the more ephemeral nature of Twitter as a social media platform —with a feed shifting by like the sands of time and posts that are relevant and engaged with for a fleeting few hours before sinking into the digital abyss— is part of the charm, and something that encourages users to post with a levity and frequency that is not seen on other platforms and mediums. There are simply spur-of-the-moment thoughts, ideas in germination, real-time wit, propagandising, counter-propagandising, and memeing, that are only found in abundance on and engendered by Twitter. There is no other platform that lends itself so readily to unorthodox but effective pedagogy, which incorporates the intellectual competitiveness of the male instinct, a cyber-lyceum if there ever was one.

Clearly, we would be mad as a movement to dispense with the powers of such a medium, chthonic as they may sometimes be, in favour of more traditional mediums. Rather, we would do well to acknowledge how much the media landscape has changed, and we are in a world where an extensive X thread or YouTube video’s impact exceeds that of many published books. The fact that the reach of some of our bigger accounts exceeds that of many historical nationalist newspapers is surely a justification in itself. Moreover, some personality types simply excel at short-form content creation and chastising them for a dearth of long-form content is to admonish Ezra Pound for not writing the tome Ulysses.

Furthermore, in line with the tenets of 5th generation warfare, which is defined in large part by cultural and informational warfare, the digital hivemind that is Twitter is a frontline in the decentralised and asymmetric war between left and right, globalist and populist, and of course, Irish nationalist and his opponents. On these merits, Gaeltwitter is an invaluable asset, a digital Fianna that defends Ireland’s honour against defamers and carves out a pedestal from which to broadcast the Gaelic view of life, from politics to art. More Anglosphere nationalists have changed their minds on Irish nationalism from interactions with the multitude of our erudite anons than from any book they encountered. Exposure to quality, non-slop information on such a large site is priceless. Whether we like it or not, the modern mind has acclimated to the interaction, entertainment, and visual stimulation of short-form social media, and it is ultimately a good thing to appropriate for our ends. Given this demonstrable importance of such platforms, it’s hardly right to call the effective use of X by Gaeltwitter a ‘pernicious release valve’.

But just because I have argued for the effectiveness of Twitter as a short-form medium, this does not preclude the need for long-form content. Longer form content is amenable to publishing and archiving. There is, of course, an archival aspect to Twitter, which a certain treasured Hasbara account has made much hay from, and long may that continue. But herein lies an Achilles’ heel for the digital denizens of Gaeltwitter. We subsist at the whim of others, be it the tech bros or anti-national governments, and the vicissitudes of digital life leave countless hours worth of invaluable content at risk of extermination. As I have pointed out, Gaeltwitter is immeasurably valuable, despite some of its shortcomings, but in fairness to Creeve Rua, there is nothing inherently wrong with a call to arms for more essays and publications. We can demand more long-form content in our circles; there just isn’t sufficient reason that this requires an undermining of the value of the short-form content of so many tireless nationalist accounts.

Substack publishing has been a corrective measure regarding long-form content, but it still lacks the authority of a journal or book. And this is where I think some actionable solutions are within our grasp. Longer form essays are already being produced for MEON, and perhaps the future will see such longer form content in the form of quarterlies or some other suitable style of physical publication. Physical media will always have its charm and uses, among which is an anti-fragile existence for the multitude of articles, poems, and short stories, which can sit in the protective bosoms of bookshelves across the country. Looking across the water, many have noted the success of the Lotus Eaters’ flagship magazine, The Islander, a popular extension of their online content into the real world. Indeed, there’s a certain irony in the Saxon outproducing the Gael in nationalist magazines/papers —the strength of the tradition in Ireland is well-renowned, such as Griffith’s United Irishman, to name but one— and this is something that could be remedied with some planning and pooled resources in the near future. Closer to home, there are some individual publishing successes by Keith Woods and Brendan Heard with Nationalism: The Politics of Identity and The Decline and Fall of Western Art, respectively. This is encouraging, and it should be noted that Twitter has been at the centre of the promotion for many such texts.

In essence, Gaeltwitter can have its cake and eat it too. There is no reason why we cannot continue to enjoy the confluence of shitposting, exegesis of the Irish nationalist canon, Gaelic history, genetics, and Irish language posting that makes up Gaeltwitter, while also making the effort to create long-form and physical media. In fact, not only are they not mutually exclusive, but they are interlinked; Gaeltwitter can and indeed has acted as fertile soil for the germination of ideas which are being fleshed out on Substacks, MEON articles, and perhaps in the near future, longer-form physical media.

While Irish nationalists can (and should, where possible) disperse their talents through articles, videos and books, it is crucial to recognise the role of Gaeltwitter in driving the discourse, community upkeep, generating the ideas, and broadcasting the truth of our cause to the global right. In this way, the Irish national movement can remain a healthy one, without the need to cry foul on our Twitterati. Ultimately, quality short-form content remains critical at this juncture. Demote it to a ‘pernicious release valve’ at your peril.