Previous Tweets Haunt Would-be Politicans Dreams
Ryan Ryder, a veteran
from South Dakota, was running for Congress. After the announcement was made
that he was running for Congress, questions were raised about his previous
activity on social media. One tweet he posted involved suggesting that he should
animate himself killing a Representative’s family. Another suggested that he
should would perform sexual acts to a picture of Governor Kristi Noem. Ryder claims
that context is important and that each tweet was sarcastic and rude to make a
point against what those politicians had said or done.
Dan Lederman, South Dakota’s GOP chairman, believes that
the democrat’s selection of Ryan Ryder was a mistake and suggests that he will
likely be two-faced. Ryan Ryder won’t be the face of South Dakota democrats
during this race, however. Ryder dropped out of the race after the enormous amount
of backlash he received for his tweets.
Previous social media use seems to haunt many
politicians. People often forget that every single thing you’ve ever posted online
still exists in some capacity, even after it’s deleted. People need to be more
mindful about what they post in respect to their future career plans.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ryan-ryder-south-dakota-democrat-who-tweeted-about-masturbating-to-kristi-noem-drops-congressional-bid
This is a perfect example of why everyone should be mindful about what they post. As you mentioned, even after posts have been deleted, someway and somehow, they can be recovered. I will never forget that when I was around 13 years old, one of my dear friends got into trouble with her parents for lying about deleting pictures out of her phone. Her parents took her phone to the police station and recovered everything. One of the worst things a politician can do is post controversial things on social media. Great post!
ReplyDeleteAt this point, criticism of tweets and other social media posts that are out-of-context and/or outdated are much more common. In 2019, Kevin Hart was criticized over homophobic tweets that he made to be humorous with his viewers in 2009 and 2011. The tweet cause Kevin Hart to step-down from being the 2019 Academy Awards Host. Kevin hart stated in response to the criticism, “Guys, I’m almost 40 years old. If you don’t believe that people change, grow, evolve as they get older, I don’t know what to tell you. If you want to hold people in a position where they always have to justify or explain the past, then do you.” Honestly, while I do think people should be held accountable for the materials that they post, is it fair to hold them accountable their whole lives ruining their potential for growth?
ReplyDeleteFortin, J. (2018, December 7). Kevin Hart steps down as Oscars host after criticism over homophobic tweets. The New York Times. Retrieved April 24, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/06/arts/kevin-hart-homophobic-tweets.html
I really enjoyed reading this post because this topic will always be relevant. The repercussions of behaving badly on social media has drastically changed in the past decade. As what is acceptable on social media changes old posts continue to be brought to the forefront and these public figures are rightfully held accountable. I think that it is to our advantage that these things were allowed on social media in the past because now we know exactly who these politicians are and how they really feel about the topics at hand. It also makes people who ever want to run for office watch what they post as they are afraid of being exposed one day.
ReplyDelete