The hazard of social networking: Someone might read what you write
I suppose I am taking a risk here, because I’m speaking in defence of the freedom of speech in a way… Apparently, being honest about your true feelings isn’t appropriate these days. Someone important might get offended. In this case, that someone important was Fred Smith of FedEx for a comment made on Twitter about their town by certain Mr. Andrews who was on his way to give him a presentation of a sort. The unfortunate Mr. Andrews didn’t like Memphis. It seems, that Mr. Andrews should have liked Memphis, or at least should have pretend to, and as he didn’t he got into a world of trouble for mentioning that on Twitter.
What I want to ask is that how petty do you have to be if you bother to write a 350 word letter about a tweet message that most people wouldn’t thought twice about without you bringing it up? Now we all know that Memphis is a bit of an eye sore from the airport point of view. Mr. Andrews never said why he didn’t like Memphis. Maybe he has an obnoxious auntie there. He also never mentioned WHICH town he didn’t like, but thanks to Fred Smith, we all know now that it was Memphis. Now I know, that if I ever go to US, Memphis isn’t probably the nicest place to go see. (Not that I would have anyway, so no big harm done there, or even if I had been thinking about going, the harm still wouldn’t be big I suppose.)
I once got into trouble by stating online that I couldn’t understand how people could live in Helsinki. To me it was way too noisy and there were no trees in sight, and every building looked alike. I lived in Helsinki for some years after that, and I still can’t understand why some people choose to live there. I said that online, and a (former) friend who lives in Helsinki was offended. I simply cannot understand why anyone would be so precious about their home town. Now that I live in Hobart, I LOVE this place. I absolutely ADORE it. But I do understand that some people will find it way too quiet for their taste; they even might say it’s not pretty as there are no neon lights and some of the houses and stores are a bit of an eye sore, but do I care if someone says that out loud on Twitter? Of course not! They have a right to their opinion, and it won’t change my love for Hobart one tiny bit. I happen to like those eye-sores as well. They add character. :p
I don’t know how the letter got online, but I suspect that unless Mr. Andrews got sacked for this he wouldn’t have dared to. However, it got online and Fred Smith should know that publicity these days goes both ways. Everything that can be legally published and a bunch of illegal stuff can become public information. (And here’s a tip, Mr. Smith. If you resort to personal insults toward the little guy in response to something so generic than someone not liking your town, it doesn’t really sit well with general public.) Now, I am one of the few people who don’t have to worry about what drinking party photos will be published of me on Facebook, because I’ve yet to have my first drink. I still feel it’s completely unrealistic to demand a squeaky-clean public image from the people around you, because the only people who can keep that up are very likely to suffer from narcissistic personality disorder, and you would not want to hire them if you knew. People are people, and we are very fast getting to know that we all have things in our lives that other people will judge. Be it your figure, your opinions, your way of life, your religion, someone will think you’re an abomination for it.
I rarely quote the bible, but this is such a perfect opportunity: Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged
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There’s more to this story yet. Please read the comments made by Terbil Towl explaining who exactly wrote that letter… May that be a lesson in thinking before typing in anger.
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I had a guy rant in a post on his blog about a post I made about reading American Psycho about 4 years ago…and my posting the photo of the book.
Now, I didn’t like the book but this idiot decided to bring my intelligence into question for merely reading the book and encouraged people to stop by my blog, by linking to it, to tell me what a complete “dumb whore” I was for even bothering to read that book.
There are trolls everywhere online and the best thing to do is ignore them and limit their access to you via blocking or changing settings.
Unfortunately, that narrows down who reads your blog but if the problem is huge enough…steps have to be made.
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Okay, let’s make a mental note. Don’t mention publicly, that you have read American Psycho. Someone might get offended. Maybe one day, it’s someone important.
(Geesh.)
No kidding….that was the weirdest reaction I ever got from a blog by a random person. It made me have to turn the entry “private” so he coudn’t keep the link to it in his blog.
Some people are just trouble-makers and enjoy drama.
I haven’t attracted anyone’s ire yet, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time. No doubt there are many things to pick on about me… that I have moronic beliefs, that my face is not symmetrical enough, or that I have stupid little pig comics on my blog. Someone somewhere likes to whinge and tear down, and will do just that given the opportunity.
Here’s a thought… what about just accepting me as a person to begin with? Respect does not have to be something earned; it can be something given freely. Why? Because it’s arrogant to insist that everyone be a carbon copy of yourself before you show them any respect. By setting yourself up as judge over all, you’re setting yourself up for a fall.
As always, a great post, Sebastyne!
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I don’t know if you’re irritating enough to be picked apart because your unsymmetrical face. (??!) I have experience on that though. :p I have had people (men) tell me exactly why I’m not quite “as pretty as I think I am”.
I find it rather hilarious really. But I was asking for it, quite honestly.
Normally it doesn’t matter what people say or write about you, but when it attacks your business or your career, like in the case of Mr. Andrews, it really sucks.
To correct some misinformation (because if people read it on the internet they’ll think it must be true), Mr. Smith was never involved with this. It was a low-level employee who wrote the long e-mail defending his hometown to the high-level PR agency exec (aka your “little guy”), who had invited said employees to read his Twitter page. The employee took the bait, and the rest is history (or a version of it).
It’s a shame that a highly respected company so committed to excellence has to be mischaracterized on blogs like yours because of a low-level employee’s rant. As you defend freedom of speech, ultimately it’s critical that the facts aren’t slanted (and that people aren’t “judged” based on distortions) — or how do you expect to gain any of the respect so passionately sought after for this new version of media?
Well that’s certainly a relief if it was a low-level employee. I hope he got an earful for this.
As much as the agency exec was ticked off at one intolerant person, inspiring his Tweet (as he explained in his blog), the low-level employee was put off by the agency exec’s name-dropping and self-aggrandizement during his company visit, fueling his complaint. But in the process the employee gave his company a bad name, undeservedly, and surely is in way over his head, all because, as the lesson goes, he didn’t pause to think before he clicked.
That’s a great lesson in typing when angry. I’ll have to make a mention of that in the post. Thanks for going through the trouble of correcting some of this.
I still feel it’s completely unrealistic to demand a squeaky-clean public image from the people around you, because the only people who can keep that up are very likely to suffer from narcissistic personality disorder, and you would not want to hire them if you knew.
You really hit the nail square on the head. Some people have made their social networking life their whole life. They are pitifully addicted. They believe what they read is written in stone, and they allow such words as you have used above to take on an exaggerated value.
I don’t accept the notion that his company or anyone else has the right to judge this “low level” employee for sharing his opinion. He shared his opinion of the place on twitter. Big deal! And I sure as heck don’t buy into the notion that his company was in any way damaged by his “confession”.
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Yeah, I don’t think any of this has really hurt FedEx. All and all, who cares if the employees and their collaborators blow their top every now and then as long as your packages are delivered on time. (They still have Cast Away to fall back on.) What I found curious about this was simply the pettiness of some people caring so much about a simple tweet. It takes a bit of an inflated ego to think that everyone is soooo interested in you and your company to pay attention to every little detail like that. It wouldn’t have been much more than a flick on a screen if the low-level FedEx guy wouldn’t have reacted to it.