Tweets Are No Turkish Delight

Whether you like what your government is doing or not, being an American is an amazing thing because of the many civil liberties we do have and so often take for granted.
For example, the election earlier this week was documented by people throughout the country on Twitter and other social media sights. But those constant tweets throughout the day expressed disdain, disgust, excitement, confusion, love, and hatred. Love it or leave it, twitter is a new way we are recording history. And as Americans, we can say a lot thanks to the First Amendment. Like Ann Coulter calling the president the "r-word" on twitter during the last debate, there is a no holding us back from stating and sharing our opinions. And while I don't agree with the likes of Ann Coulter and others who abuse that right to say horrible things with their micro-blogging, I am proud we have that right. Because many places in the world, Ann Coulter would be in jail-not that I'd be mad about that.
Turkey is an example of one of those places. Today, the mayor of the capital city Ankara, is suing 600 people for trashing him on Twitter because under Turkey's controversial Article 301, those who insult "the Turkish Nation" can serve up to two years in prison. The mayor İbrahim Melih Gökçek said on a TV interview that they are tracking down the authors of the tweets who will find "themselves in front of prosecutors. But if they apologize publicly, then I say they're young and forgive them." Sounds generous enough of him.
But back in June, Gökçek, who has been mayor since 1994, spoke out in support of banning abortion saying “Women kill their babies born out of adultery. Why do babies die because of these so-called mothers? Let mothers kill themselves." Things are starting to make sense. If I was Turkish and tweeted, I would definitely have not too many sweet tweets for this man.

The Best Response to Ann Coulter's Tweet

Shame on you Ann Coulter.
Normally, I am successfully able to pretend she doesn't exist and all-together avoid hearing her conservative blabbing. But this can't be ignored.
During the debate, Ann Coulter tweeted this (and try to contain your shock that I am going to point out that this is yet another example of that twittersphere causing twouble with a "tragic tweet of hate")

That's right-she just called our President a "retard." Obviously offensive on so many levels and I don't even know how to respond to such a mean-spirited and hateful comment. But John Franklin Stephens, a 30 year old man and Special Olympic athlete with Down syndrom, did.
He wrote an eloquent, heart-felt letter to Ann Coulter that puts this bitch in her place.
He writes via a Special Olympics blog

Dear Ann Coulter,
Come on Ms. Coulter, you aren’t dumb and you aren’t shallow. So why are you continually using a word like the R-word as an insult?
I’m a 30 year old man with Down syndrome who has struggled with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability means that I am dumb and shallow. I am not either of those things, but I do process information more slowly than the rest of you. In fact it has taken me all day to figure out how to respond to your use of the R-word last night.

He then goes on to say

Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor.
No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much.
Come join us someday at Special Olympics. See if you can walk away with your heart unchanged.

And he signs it as "A friend you haven't made yet." Amazing.
It's moments like this that I am genuinely reminded how great the human spirit is. We should all work to see the world and love life as John Franklin Stephens does. We should all face adversity and hate with this kind of quiet strength and compassion that he shows through his words. We should all be careful about our words-on twitter and everyday. And Ann Coulter needs to go the corner and think about what she's done until she can use her words properly.

A Bearlebrity is Born on Twitter

This is Meatball aka Glen Bearian. He is a 400 pound black bear who has done something that I and many 110lb starlets can not do-make a name for himself in Tinsel Town. Though he did commit a felony to get attention-kind of like Lindsey Lohan.
After breaking and entering into a home, he was caught eating meatballs out of the freezer. He was then taken miles away, only to resurface on the exact same street days later again rummaging through trash. Aging Winnie the Pooh and Yogi Bear should feel threatened-this bear totally is snagging their stage and using that cute hungry bear shtick they totally did. 
But this attention-craving L.A. bear is a clever one and turned to twitter to save his hide. People have incredibly raised $90,000 to build this bear a habitat on an animal reserve. This is the first positive use I have seen out of the social media sight. Makes me hate twitter a little bit less to see it used for good and not evil.
Click here for the story from CBS news.

This face that launched a thousand tweets is the newest star in Hollywood.

Why Is The Twittersphere So Racist?

At first it was just a nuisance. It was nonsensical sharing about what someone was having for dinner or what their meaningless thoughts on the Grammy's were. Then everyone was attempting to become a twitterlebrity by typing some vaguely witty remark that then would travel the twittersphere in hopes of getting retweeted by some B-list celebrity who has thousands of followers. What a great goal.
But now twitter is just outraging me and my case against twitter just keeps getting stronger. What is it about this social media site that lures its users who are prone to over-sharing to the false sense of security that they can say whatever horrible thought they want and hide behind their twitter handle?

A little bird told me you're a racist.

And it just keeps happening. Racism is running rampant on twitter. But at least people are facing actual consequences for their virtual world twacism.
Today triple jumper Voula Papachristou was expelled from Greece's Olympic team for comments she made on Twitter mocking African immigrants and expressing support for a far-right party. Earlier this week I mentioned the UK student who was jailed for his racist tweets about a school athlete. And earlier in the spring, Boston made headlines when many racist tweets against a Washington Capitals hockey player scored against the Boston's precious Bruins.
The trouble with racism on twitter is that the hate travels fast and far, which I suppose is the big draw if you are a bigoted jerk who wants to share your spiteful doctrine with the masses. In many cases, like the one of former Olympic hopeful Papachristou, the culprit when caught tries to say it was a misinterpreted joke. Please. Racism is racism. Even when it's said in a quick 140 characters or less.
Ok, I'm going to stop twitching in anger over tweeting. Why can't we all just be like the pandas:

The Twouble With Twitter

The micro-blogger twitter continues to land many of it's users in trouble.
Most recently to hit the headlines is 17 year old Savannah Dietrich of Kentucky. Savannah was a victim of sexual assault last year by two other teen boys she knew when she passed out after drinking. The boys also allegedly took pictures of the attack and shared them. Dietrich was obviously traumatized by this and said "For months, I cried myself to sleep. I couldn't go out in public places. You just sit there and wonder, who saw (the pictures), who knows?"
But now this victim is being charged because the boys who assaulted her plead guilty and got a plea agreement in court in June and Dietrich was upset by this and tweeted about it. Her tweets included the names of her assaulters which directly violates the court which advised everyone at the boys' hearing to not speak about what happened in court or the crime. Dietrich's tweet got her contempt and could land her in jail for 180 days and/or a $500 fine. The young woman says she tweeted because she felt her attackers "got off very easy ... and they tell me to be quiet, just silencing me at the end."
Dietrich's desire to have her voice heard seems understandable, but more and more it seems that taking your grievances to twitter and other online media is risky. While the 1st Amendment gives us freedom of speech, it does not protect us from breaking the law with what we say, which is what happened here.
Dietrich's trouble from twitter is becoming an increasing problem. In fact, NYPD (and I'm sure other police departments across the country) has a whole unit that peruses social media to catch criminals. Last spring in Wales a Swansea University student was jailed for over 50 days following a racist tweet about one of the school's athletes. And last year a nurse got into trouble for cruel and insensitive tweets about a patient who she was supposed to take off life support but refused to saying that it would take too much time and effort to deal with the body which would cut into her social life. She then tweeted the next day that she was happy that the patient died while she was off duty. And like in the case of the lazy nurse, twitter has cost many complaining employees their jobs.
Twitter allows everyone the outlet to have a public voice to share and with that power comes the abuse of power that will inevitably lead to trouble from the twittersphere.  I get it, we are all a twitter and want our voice to be heard. But think before you tweet or you could become a jailbird.

And for fun, this video from the hilarious SuperNews perfectly sums up twitter madness:

From Bad to Worse

What happened at the midnight movie premiere of Batman in Aurora, Colorado is unthinkable and chilling. A lone gun man, dressed in body armor, opened fire with three weapons on the movie audience killing 12 and injuring 59. Incidents like this are terrifying because they make us all question our safety wherever we go.
And it is not something to make light of. As a nation, we should all respectfully mourn the lives lost and the ripple of suffering and fear a tragedy like this brings upon us.
With that said, how did the following tweet from online retailer CelebBoutique.com make it onto Twitter this morning?

Seriously?! How the hell did this tragic tweet happen? Was it just a completely vacuous employee responsible for social media marketing who was utterly oblivious to the headlines of the day? Or was it a misguided attempt at humor to make light of a truly horrible event? Either way, this tweet of crass commercialism attempting to capitalize on the trending of Aurora is appalling and I hope the person or people responsible for such a disrespectful act face consequences for their offensive actions.
If you must tweet-just send positive energy out to the world-especially on a day like today when it needs it.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Twitter is a trouble causer.

Excuse Me, I Have to Doodle

Remember MacPaint?! Who needed color when you had those patterns?

Finally a new social media I can get on board with. Doodle.ly is an app and website that is for doodles what twitter is for the 140 character inane, self-promoting babblings that just keep getting celebrities into trouble. Doodle.ly brings back the joy of tech doodles that I once felt using MacPaint. That same joy and feeling of accomplishment that I have gotten recently from Draw Something.
 Now I can share my thought for the day or commemorate where I am or what I've done in a masterful little doodle. The doodle heard round the world! Finally a use for all that art training. The artist in all of us can thrive! Alright-perhaps I'm getting a bit carried away. I know that my doodles won't end up priceless works of art. I won't be a doodle-lebrity. But I like the concept of sharing and expressing ourselves through art visually. And by visually, I don't mean a blurred yellow-hued instagram of you doing duck face in front of the Eiffel Tower.