Too many tweets ...
Having been extremely careful what I tweeted during the European election camapign, I managed to ruin an owl joke on twitter this morning by mistyping the word "birds" and not noticing.
However, this "owler" was comparatively minor by comparison with what happens to some people.
It is both sad and frightening that on both Twitter and the rest of the internet people are watching to drag people down if they make a serious mistake - including anything which can be selectively quoted to look like a serious mistake.
There is more than a hint in the way the internet is used today which reminds me of the line from If,
"If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,"
It's not enough to avoid, even in jest, suggesting that you might do certain things. It can be dangerous to explain how you would avoid doing them for fear that someone might quote you out of context without the "I would be careful not to" or "I would never" bit.
However, this "owler" was comparatively minor by comparison with what happens to some people.
It is both sad and frightening that on both Twitter and the rest of the internet people are watching to drag people down if they make a serious mistake - including anything which can be selectively quoted to look like a serious mistake.
There is more than a hint in the way the internet is used today which reminds me of the line from If,
"If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,"
It's not enough to avoid, even in jest, suggesting that you might do certain things. It can be dangerous to explain how you would avoid doing them for fear that someone might quote you out of context without the "I would be careful not to" or "I would never" bit.
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