Helen Zille leaves Twitter

Urgh, I wanted Helen Zille to leave, but not like this- thinking she is the righteous one!

People's comments on her granddaughter were absolutely wrong, but it doesn't change the fact that she was a divisive and racist Twitter troll She is the author of her own misfortune.

— Amanda 🌻 (@AmandaRinquest) February 17, 2020

Please she not leave twitter, she is perfect fit for her missteps.

— mlibo qoboshiyane (@MliboQ) February 17, 2020

A thread 1) After the grotesque treatment of my grand-daughter on Twitter ydy, I am closing this account. I say goodbye to some of my followers, and good riddance to the haters, bots and sock-puppets that constitute such a large percentage of my 1,4-million plus followers.

— Helen Zille (@helenzille) February 17, 2020

2) Twitter has degenerated into a platform for irrationality and mob-lynching. Everything that can be distorted and twisted for a hate-filled agenda, is used for the purpose of manufacturing outrage and inflicting maximum damage.

— Helen Zille (@helenzille) February 17, 2020

3) For a long time I have sought to promote Twitter as a platform for rational and civil debate, but it clearly is not possible. It has degenerated into a space of distortion, de-contextualisation, demonization, de-legitimation and double standards.

— Helen Zille (@helenzille) February 17, 2020

4) Instead of democratising debate, it has severely curtailed freedom of speech and discussion. It emboldens your enemies and silences your friends. It is a space where the best lack all conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity, as Yeats so aptly put it.

— Helen Zille (@helenzille) February 17, 2020

5) The only thing I would miss if I went off the platform entirely, are the posts of the rational and interesting people I follow. So I am opening a new, private account called @ZilleTweets. That will be for people interested in rational debate only.

— Helen Zille (@helenzille) February 17, 2020

6) Of course, I would only know if someone is interested in rational debate if I know them either personally, or through past Twitter interactions. This means I may reject many who are interested in rational debate, but who I do not know.

— Helen Zille (@helenzille) February 17, 2020

7) I apologise for that. But this evil platform, that can find no effective way of filtering out fake accounts, and dealing with hate speech (as constitutionally defined) offers no alternative. Go well if you mean well. I'm out of here.

— Helen Zille (@helenzille) February 17, 2020