There is a saying I learned when I was building sets that has come in handy for many other things other than carpentry - "Measure twice and cut once". It is especially true when posting on public political forums, Facebook, and Twitter. It is just better to understand what you are reading and writing, and think before posting a comment. Here is my cautionary tale...
After Rand Paul announced he was throwing his hat in the ring on Tuesday, a group of avatars were posted on his campaign page that can be downloaded to be used to show support across social media. The little avatars exclaimed "Musician for Rand", "African-American for Rand", "Nevadan for Rand" etc. In their haste to counter, Planned Parenthood posted all of these little avatars as a meme on Twitter with the following comment - "Hmmm, what's missing? "Women for Rand" Guess even Rand Paul knows that women won't support Rand Paul"
So to cover their mistake, they tried to back-track a little with this:
That "clarification" didn't help much because it was pointed quickly by the rabble over and over that there is no "Men for Rand" avatar either. To their credit, Planned Parenthood didn't delete the tweet, but no one from Planned Parenthood tried to defend it either most likely hoping that people would lose interest.
Now, there is more to this tale than just pointing out how brainless Planned Parenthood has been which is fun (I admit it). But we all know we post comments without thinking sometimes. I admit I do. But the real moral of this story is..."Think twice, post once". The internet is forever.
Comments?
After Rand Paul announced he was throwing his hat in the ring on Tuesday, a group of avatars were posted on his campaign page that can be downloaded to be used to show support across social media. The little avatars exclaimed "Musician for Rand", "African-American for Rand", "Nevadan for Rand" etc. In their haste to counter, Planned Parenthood posted all of these little avatars as a meme on Twitter with the following comment - "Hmmm, what's missing? "Women for Rand" Guess even Rand Paul knows that women won't support Rand Paul"
Sen. Rand Paul's "Show Your Support" page doesn't have anything for women.Immediately, the responses started pouring in. Not at all what they were expecting though. All were along the same lines of "What? Women can't be...". Whoopsie, in their haste to pounce on the "War On Women" theme, no one noticed that none of these avatars were the least bit gender-specific - Doctors, Lawyers, African-Americans, Musicians, Veterans, Student, Runners and the various states etc. Now "Sportsman" and "Fisherman" could be debatably masculine, but seriously even woman play sports, hunt, and fish.
So to cover their mistake, they tried to back-track a little with this:
Women are many things—doctors, veterans, more—but w/ his record, seems even Paul knows "Woman for Rand" won't be one.
That "clarification" didn't help much because it was pointed quickly by the rabble over and over that there is no "Men for Rand" avatar either. To their credit, Planned Parenthood didn't delete the tweet, but no one from Planned Parenthood tried to defend it either most likely hoping that people would lose interest.
Now, there is more to this tale than just pointing out how brainless Planned Parenthood has been which is fun (I admit it). But we all know we post comments without thinking sometimes. I admit I do. But the real moral of this story is..."Think twice, post once". The internet is forever.
Comments?
Bev, This doesn't surprise me in the least. This is what politics has become - a game of knee-jerk gotcha without regard to facts or logic. Sad, but that's really all the fringes have left... the public ha rejected all their ideas.
ReplyDeleteI don't see Pygmies. What has Rand got against Pygmies, eh?
ReplyDeleteTwitter is the best place for this kind of stuff. Some of the stuff that Sabrina Erdley and her liberal cohorts at Salon and Jezebel about UVA rape hoax was pretty damning to them after the fact. The indignation of having all of their tweets re-tweeted was very embarrassing to them and came with a few of those non-apologies...
ReplyDeleteBev, For athletes, Twitter is a cow poop landmine. And many of them happy step in it and then wonder how things could have gone so wrong.
ReplyDeleteBen - He hates Pygmies, don't you know that?? I am sure that's what he said when the AP asked that question. It was right before the AP asked "So, why do you encourage more starving old people and homeless children?", so you probably missed it.
ReplyDeleteLiberal Twitter-ites hated that Debbie Wasserman Schultz was asked a question about her views on abortion at the urging of Rand Paul for which she responded - no limitations end of story. They couldn't believe that the press could be so mean and this was just "gotcha" question to make her look bad and make the DNC look bad and it shouldn't be allowed.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they even understand how stupid they sound when they write stuff like that.
Bev, Twitter is generally used by people who don't realize how stupid they are.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if those folks at Planned Parenthood are glad their mother was pro-life?
ReplyDeleteBut Andrew - these aren't just random rabble of which I count myself an charter member. These are seasoned veteran political operatives, aides, journalists etc. which makes it worse.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for athletes, we must keep reminding ourselves that most are still in their 20's...but caution is still necessary.
Apparently, an episode of My Little Pony featured some anti-Marxist, anti-totalitarian, pro-individualist messages.
ReplyDeleteLINK
A bit of recommended reading, Thomas Sowell's recent obit on the late great Lee Kuan Yew, probably one of the few real examples of a "benevolent" dictator. Benevolent in that he turned his country into one of the most prosperous and safest countries in the world.
ReplyDeleteTwo highlights:
Yew's economic policy:
"At a time when other Third World countries were setting up government-controlled economies and blaming their poverty on "exploitation" by more advanced industrial nations, Lee Kuan Yew promoted a market economy, welcomed foreign investments, and made Singapore's children learn English, to maximize the benefits from Singapore's position as a major port for international commerce."
On Democracy and the success and failure of it, short and sweet and right:
"Democracy can be wonderful as a principle where it is viable, but disastrous as a fetish where it is not."
Read the whole thing here, it isn't too long: LINK
Those two quotes are by Sowell, by the way, in case it was not clear.
ReplyDelete