Friday 12 November 2010

Yasmin was right

The first big Twitter story this week was the "Twitter Joke Trial": the failed appeal of @PauljChambers against his conviction for a tweet threatening to blow up Robin Hood airport.

Twitterati are up in arms about the #TwitterJokeTrial, arguing that it is an infringement of free speech. "So that's the banning of sarcasm, irony, sub-text and any of the other subtleties of language that we use AS GROWN UPS", said Dara O'Brien.  Thousands are now retweeting Chambers' original Twitter threat, with the hashtag #IamSpartacus in a show of solidarity.
Compare and contrast with the second big Twitter story of the week: a tweet following journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown's appearance on a radio talk show:

The sender, a 38 year old Birmingham barrister and Conservative councillor, was arrested yesterday and has been bailed pending investigation. He has apologised for the indirect threat against Alibhai-Brown, claiming that it was an "ill conceived attempt at humour".  The case has not (yet) attracted the support of civil rights campaigners and celebrities as the Chambers case has done - probably because the liberal media feels rather less comfortable about taking sides against one of their own.  But thousands of blog comments and tweets are criticising Alibhai-Brown, saying she is humourless, should "chill out", and "get stoned".

Chambers didn't really intend to blow up Robin Hood Airport. In fact, on spotting Chambers' tweet at the time, even the airport didn't take his threat seriously.  It's unlikely Compton really wanted to stone Alibhai-Brown either, although she DID take it seriously enough to report it to the police, saying that she and her daughter felt genuinely threatened.

I think she was right to complain, for the wrong reason.

Every day, thousands of people round the country get away with making sexist, racist and homophobic remarks in pubs, in break rooms at work, at football matches, and increasingly, on internet forums.  Some make threats of violence against women, gays and other groups: on a football forum I used to belong to, one long-time member suggested that another rape his female friend. I've also seen and heard groups of fans at football matches chanting for away teams from North London to be sent to the gas chambers.

But just because they can get away with it, surrounded by their mates in difficult-to-police situations, doesn't make it right.  These kind of threats and insults, if allowed to go unchallenged, create a climate in which young, easily influenced people think it is socially acceptable to view women and other groups in a demeaning light, and that violence against them might also be OK, even condoned by their friends and associates.  When I complained about the incidents I mention above, I - like Alibhai-Brown - was also accused of lacking a sense of humour.  But since when has rape been funny? Or being stoned to death?  Or Jews being sent to the gas chambers?

Councillor Compton has been a bit unlucky that Alibhai-Brown complained - many targets of unpleasant tweets or Facebook flaming do not want hassle or confrontation.  He's also been incredibly stupid, as an elected official, to post such an inappropriate remark in such a public place. The Conservative Party will be furious that Compton has undermined the rehabilitation of its brand:  he will now inescapably go into the same bag as Philippa Stroud, to be fished out whenever someone wants to "prove" the Tories are still the nasty party.   But I am glad he has been copped.  Whether the free speech Twitterati like it or not, it will make most people think twice about making mindless, offensive and menacing threats to, or remarks about, others.
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