Saturday 13 November 2010

My take on #TwitterJokeTrial

So this week, we learn that posting something on Twitter is like shouting it out load where you are tweeting from. Or that nothing is a joke unless it's written by somebody employed to it. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, in short, you can get arrested for joking on twitter. What's most worrying about this is that this is giving out a message that whatever you say must be serious, because when I tell somebody I'm going 'to kill them', I'm totally threatening to murder them. No doubt about it. Anyone with a little common sense would call this a joke so why, just because the words 'blow up' are mentioned, is it any different?

Furthermore, what if Chambers was a comedian? Would it be more of a joke? I'd say this whole would have been less of an issue and that, my friends, doesn't make any sense. Simply because he isn't employed to makes jokes doesn't mean he can't make jokes which, in fairness, is nothing compared to what horrors come from Frankie Boyle's mouth. Last time I checked, we could all be arrested for the same things regardless of what your job is.

Funniest of all this nonsense; If people retweeted his post, then it wouldn't be a problem right. I mean, people are reposting his original joke with the hashtag #IAm Spartacus so when are the police going to arrest them all. Or is it different now? Is it a joke now but when Chambers said it there was a chance that people could die?

Please, don't be so stupid.

EDIT: After reading this article, the judge of his appeal had said "Any ordinary person reading this would see it in that way and be alarmed." 'Ordinary'? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

1 comment:

  1. Very astute commentary, better than all the news reports I've read esp.
    "Or is it different now? Is it a joke now but when Chambers said it there was a chance that people could die?"
    The makings of an award winning writer here methinks.

    ReplyDelete

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