fuelgrannie

Whelp, it happened again.

My Twitter account has been suspended, once more, as it had been back in October 2019, but this time is different as Twitter has suspended both of my accounts, @fuelgrannie and @QueensStomp.

While it remains disconcerting not to have a voice on the Twitter platform, I still have a voice on this website, my own platform, so I am gratedful for this space and also appreciative of how much activity this site is getting today. My piece about my first suspension has received more views today alone that it did for the entire year of 2021.

Unlike in October 2019, when Twitter could not provide any direct explanation for why my account was suspended (a likely targeted, coordinated attack by New York City yimby group Open New York as I detailed in a blog post back then), it was my reply last night to an account I had never seen before which ended up resulting in my suspension.

The account, @Ya3il8200, had tweeted, “struggling to see the difference between this weirdo [me] and an owner class nimby boomer [University of Pennsylvania professor @ValerieRoss14] who thinks nothing needs to change because they were able to buy their house for $50,000 back in the jurassic era,” and I responded with, “you’re right, janice: let’s kill all the old people especially the weirdos” to point out this account’s ageism, one of the more consistent themes in yimby engagement.

This was not a call to kill old people like me or weirdos like me: this was no physical threat but rather was a challenge to the inappropriate use of the “nimby boomer” and “jurassic era,” phrases which reflect the discrimination, intolerance and underlying violence against older people which I so often receive. I have been told to “not wake up” and to “get the bullet” on Twitter along with countless calls over the years for me to “take” my “medication,” “change” my “diapers” and “take a nap,” as efforts to silence my words and diminish my voice and personhood.

I am disappointed that Twitter could not discern the nuance of my reply or perceive the ageism which persisted in @Ya3il8200’s subsequent retort, “I promise you will get over the loss of the parking lot where that scoundrel Richard ‘Dick’ Rogers fingerblasted you after your senior prom in 1957.”

My school did not hold proms, nor was it attended by boys, so poor ol Dick Rogers, an imaginary person in @Ya3il8200’s mind, really missed out.

I’ve submitted appeals for the suspension of each of my Twitter accounts and I look forward to resolving this issue in a fair and reasonable manner as my engagement did not warrant a suspension.

So here’s to keeping the old people alive and vocal in this effort to stand up to abusive yimbys. This jurassic-era weirdo will always fight for my voice: as long as my old, wrinkled, redundant body has air in my saggy, well worn lungs, I’ll be keeping my mouth open.

No matter what the forum.