Pretty much un-followed all of the political class on Twitter (and used the block-unblock truck to get them to un-follow me).
There are some stars there (Long, McCrea, McAllister) but I have my reasons. And one of them was a veiled threat from a head of an agency who said that my angry non-partisan activism for a better, working NI was likely to severely prejudice decisions on my projects. Like it or not, there is no separation between professional and personal because of social media.
Add to that the whataboutery that ensues when you’re not unionist for one category of idiots and not nationalist for another category of idiots. I figure that if you’re being attacked by both sides then you must be doing the right thing.
It’s just not right for me. I don’t enjoy the limelight. Things are a little in flux and for the sake of my own sanity I’m focusing on doing the things I want to do rather than doing the things I feel socially obligated to do.
On that, there’s a couple of new things on the horizon. I hope you’ll be pleased to see them when they go public.
Matt,
I’m really sorry to hear this. I’m also really alarmed.
There’s a lot that we might disagree about when it comes to political orientation but I’ve always admired the fact that you appreciated the inextricable link between politics and economics.
How anyone with economic ambitions can be expected to be silent on the issue of politics just beggars belief. In fact it’s just bloody disingenuous.
Frankly, the idea that entrepreneurship is or can be non-partisan is a fallacy. Those issuing the veiled threat are simply anti-democratic.
It’s not about being silent, it’s about feeding the family. When your livelihood is threatened then you have to reconsider.
And remember we live in public.
I still think when feeding the family and the voicing of political convictions are mutually exclusive, we’re in trouble.
We’ve been in trouble for a while now.