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Farah calls on PM to crack down on Twitter abuse

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,925
You confused the shit out of me. :) At least I've worked out why you are so damn
keen on getting a team into Perth. You must find it hard to pick up on a Saturday night.

You'd be surprised how many ladies are into weird sh*t! :sarcasm:
 

Vic Mackey

Referee
Messages
24,591
I'm not trying to divert anything. Im sure you think that typing like you would talk to 4 year old makes you look cool/tough/funny/whatever your aiming for and well done to you. The extent of your comebacks are basically 'oh yeah.....well you suck!!!' Youve blown me away mate with your witty intellect.

Nevertheless farah has brought this onto himself, no form of sympathy whatsoever from me.
 

bottle

Coach
Messages
14,126
Have we had a tigers fan come in to this thread and not try to push their own agenda yet?

To be fair the majority of Tigers fan's posts have been along the lines of bemoaning Farah's role in this.

Aqua Duck isn't a Tiges fan, he's a Newcastle fan, and usually well balanced to boot. In this instance he seems more interested in being a Farah advocate because it was an anti Gillard remark. Who the remark was about isn't really the issue, although it adds to the irony.
 

MacDougall

First Grade
Messages
5,744
Tigers fan here. Don't think I've really come in here defending him at all. Don't think any of us have tbh.
 

CrazyTiger

Juniors
Messages
1,835
I'm tigers and farah fan, yet have said that this makes him look like an idiot and a hypocrite.

It's obvious the majority of ppl in here bagging him plain don't like him. If farah had of been caught bringing a DVD back a day late they would go to town on him. If it was say Matt cooper or josh mcguire who had of done this twitter thing 95% of the people in this thread wouldn't have an posted in it or give two shits about it. But because it's farah they are using it to push their own agendas.

I agree, Robbie is the man, nothing will change that. I don't think he is an idiot, I think
he is naive as it wasn't hard to see something like that coming. The bloke is grieving
and not thinking straight, but even so, that was coming.

Just because he is the Tigers' captain doesn't mean supporters are going to endorse
poorly thought out ideals.
 

Ausguy

Coach
Messages
14,887
Wests Tigers Captain Robbie Farah has issued the following statement.
I have written to Prime Minister Julia Gillard today to apologise for any hurt caused by a tweet I posted in 2011.
As you are aware I have been vocal in recent days about criticising those who say some pretty disgraceful things through social media and I have appreciated your support in relation to that cause.
It is an experience that has highlighted the hurtful nature of unthinking comments and even those which are sometimes put forward as ‘black humour’.
In the course of this I have been alerted to a ‘tweet’ I made last year in relation to the Prime Minister which was in hindsight clearly offensive.
At the time I did think about what I had done and removed the ‘tweet’ soon after posting it but that of course doesn’t repair the damage.
I make no excuse and offer my sincere apologies. I can only say that I have learnt a lot in recent days and I hope that everyone in the community can learn about the pain that we can cause through such comments.
Hopefully the whole situation will only serve to encourage everyone to think about what we are really saying before we hit the ‘send’ key.

http://www.weststigers.com.au/news-display/Robbie-Farah-statement/63830

If Farah wrote that... il stand rootin.
 
Messages
2,364
See this new twist is why I took issue with Penrose' position earlier. I don't disagree that people who post bile towards grieving relatives ought to be shamed, and legally persecuted if an actual crime has been commited(at the least websites should be more pro-active in tackling such trouble makers), but the line is being blurred between that sort of thing(making posts about someones dead relatives) and what I consider something else.

Robbie Farah saying that the PM should get a noose for her birthday, the implication being that she should kill herself, is absolutely fair game, in my opinion. It's funny that it's that what he's said, seeing as I mentioend earlier my homepage is 'IsThatcherDeadYet.com', not too dissimilar in the offense stakes, is it? But we're talking about the PM of Australia, and a once PM of Britain, they're not vulnerable teenage girls.

But that's precisely where this troll propaganda coming from the media and politicians is leading us, towards an internet where political rhetoric and leanings - however crass and vulgar - are seen as no different to offensive, malicious stalking of ordinary people. What's more worrying is that individual opinions that stray outside of the accepted mainstream views will become more and more marginalised, and we've seen it already in Britain. The internet is the only outlet today for true free speech, without direct repurcusions, ridicule and bullying.

I can say online plenty of things I wouldn't offline. I can express my true feelings on Islam, Christianity(and all religions) racism, politics. Some of the things if I went about saying offline would lead to physical violence, which would see me either in hospital or in prison(on account of having to defend yourself to a degree a judge might not agree with). Offline, like everybody, I'll often bite my tongue. I won't tell certain people what it is I think of their beliefs because I quite enjoy my already lacklustre health and the freedoms I have outside of a prison cell.

Yet there are people out there, the media and politicians who would absolutely love if the internet was like the 'outside world'. So that people who think for themselves and go against the mainstream and say things that are "offensive" can be intimidated with threat and legally coerced out of expressing themselves. A few people in this thread have already hinted that's there game. They've noted that people say things online they wouldn't offline because they cannot be intimidated or threated on the internet. For Penrose that's obviously a negative, it sounds like he'd love if internet users could be bullied into a state of silence, but for most lovers of freedom the notion that people express themselves online in a more honest and frank manner than they would offline is a positive. People saying they think a politician should kill themselves, that's what the internet is made for, and with the ever increasing sanatisation and political correctness of society internet freedom to say what you think about politicians and others is needed more than it's ever been.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be the case, not in Britain, anymore.

You cannot say on Twitter if you are a brown Muslim that you think soldiers are hero-worshipped too much and that they have their hands dirty in the systematic killing of, at least, tens of thousands of Iraqi and Afghan people(despite it being an indisputable fact)... Say that and you'll be charged under a nonsense racism act as the msm pro-state scum cry blue murder. Yet, if you're a white neo-ceon, you can get on mainstream news and scream from the roof tops that somebody should literally kill Hugo Chavez, and nobody takes any notice(apart from me and other left wing fruit cakes like myself).

I don't see the hypocrisy anybody else is seeing here. Farah joking with a friend that the PM should get a noose is politically mild, politicians themselves talk like that all the time offline. It's completely different to what the psychopath said to Farah, which is vile and evil both in an online or offline context. The person who attacked Farah clearly has underlying mental issues and would probably best be sectioned, or at least reviewed. Farah has expressed political sanity. Apples and Lasagne. Although Farah is obviously a moron for going running to a person for help who he thinks shouldn't be alive in the first place, lmfao.
 

aads

Juniors
Messages
274
hypocrite:
(1) A person who engages in the same behaviors he condemns others for.
 
Messages
2,364
hypocrite:
(1) A person who engages in the same behaviors he condemns others for.

I know what a hypocrite is but my position is that the behaviors aren't the same.

I don't see any comparison between attacking somebodies recently dead relative, without reason, for no other reason than to get a rise and hurt that, and joking with a friend that the prime minister of a country ought to receive a noose for her birthday. Where's the similarity? It's debatable whether Robbies comment could even be classed as an attack, technically speaking.

What I was trying to convey with my post went over your head. They are not the same, no matter how much you, the media and politicians would like them to be. One is a light hearted - and well deserved, if you ask me - political statement, the other is the vilest of insults put personally to a still-grieving son.

Stop being silly.
 

BDR

First Grade
Messages
7,526
I'm sorry I don't care who you are hearing that someone wished you were in a noose isn't light hearted. Even if it's a pollie. It also wasn't political, it would be political if he had a go at policy or even said he wanted her out of office. Wishing she was dead is not political by any stretch.

Also Robbie's argument wasn't "let's not have a go at dead relatives on twitter" it was "let's not allow people to post personal attacks on twitter". IMO publicly implying that you wish someone was dead is a personal attack, ergo Robbie is a hypocrite.

Now we're just arguing the point though.
 

adamkungl

Immortal
Messages
42,955
I know what a hypocrite is but my position is that the behaviors aren't the same.

I don't see any comparison between attacking somebodies recently dead relative, without reason, for no other reason than to get a rise and hurt that, and joking with a friend that the prime minister of a country ought to receive a noose for her birthday. Where's the similarity? It's debatable whether Robbies comment could even be classed as an attack, technically speaking.

What I was trying to convey with my post went over your head. They are not the same, no matter how much you, the media and politicians would like them to be. One is a light hearted - and well deserved, if you ask me - political statement, the other is the vilest of insults put personally to a still-grieving son.

Stop being silly.

They aren't the same, but that's not the point. Actually, that is the point. In calling for 'trolls' to be 'dealt' with, none of these moral crusaders can ever decide where to draw the line and the why, some (if not most) turning out to being hypocritical twats.

A person might shrug off a crass personal attack from a nobody on the internet as the pointless rubbish it is, but be offended by the suggestion that someone noose themself. It's all subjective. And when it comes down to it, not being offended is not some kind of god-given right anyway. f**king deal with it.
 

aads

Juniors
Messages
274
He is being a hypocrite - not you - or anyone else here - he needs to buy a tall mirror and take a long look at himself

You cant call for help from the same people that you gave the same treatment to - I bet there isn't any glass left in his greenhouse

Ads
 
Messages
2,364
I'm sorry I don't care who you are hearing that someone wished you were in a noose isn't light hearted. Even if it's a pollie. It also wasn't political, it would be political if he had a go at policy or even said he wanted her out of office. Wishing she was dead is not political by any stretch.

If that's Robbies argument then I take it back, it is hypocritical if he's campaigning against insults full stop. But the attacks I'd still argue, until I'm blue in the face, are nothing alike.

And I don't know how you can begin to argue the comment about Gillard wasn't political. It's indisputably political. If she weren't the PM of Australia, and wasn't a walking omnishambles at that, people wouldn't wish her dead. You cannot seperate Gillard from politics, not unless you know her well enough in some other capacity, which I doubt Farah does. Why would Farah make such a joke if not for political grievances?

Farah made a joke about the PM, stop the presses! It's run of the mill political humour, to paint it as anything else is a massive f**king gee up. But this just goes to show what I'm trying to get across, you cannot make otherwise non-eventful remarks on the internet. And so now in 2012 you cannot wish death upon the leader of your own country! That's not nice, that's abhorrent, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. But you could go on a panel show on prime time tv and make the joke, everybody in the audience laughs, people sat at home laugh, and nothing happens. You can get on TV and champion the death of a political enemy(quite authnetically without the slightest hint of humour), by all means, but don't you dare take to twitter and make a funny about our Gillard. I say f**k your Australian sensitivities and f**k your prime minister :lol:

Politicians are not everyman or everypeople, even though they want to make it so to give justification for political censorship or the internet. If I said "Someone give Cameron a noose" on a Twitter account, it'd be a bit different than me sending you a private or direct message saying you ought to hang yourself. One is internet bullying and completely vile by all measures, the other is an expression of political distaste.

I wish plenty of politicians would keel over and die and it's political in every regard.
 
Messages
2,364
They aren't the same, but that's not the point. Actually, that is the point. In calling for 'trolls' to be 'dealt' with, none of these moral crusaders can ever decide where to draw the line and the why, some (if not most) turning out to being hypocritical twats.

A person might shrug off a crass personal attack from a nobody on the internet as the pointless rubbish it is, but be offended by the suggestion that someone noose themself. It's all subjective. And when it comes down to it, not being offended is not some kind of god-given right anyway. f**king deal with it.

I agree or disagree. I'm not quite sure.
 

aads

Juniors
Messages
274
If i was to leave a note on your grandmas door saying she should buy a noose

Then was to get pissed off that you emailed me calling me a merkin - then i asked your Nana in defence to tell you to stop it....


Would I be a hypocrite ???

End of story from me - you obviously have your ideas on it and they cannot be changed

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Messages
2,364
If i was to leave a note on your grandmas door saying she should buy a noose

Then was to get pissed off that you emailed me calling me a merkin - then i asked your Nana in defence to tell you to stop it....


Would I be a hypocrite ???

End of story from me - you obviously have your ideas on it and they cannot be changed

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That doesn't make you a hypocrite, it makes you a genius with double standards, but we're on semantics.

If he's saying something needs to be done about "twitter insults" then he is a hypocrite, no doubt.
 

Slackboy72

Coach
Messages
11,964
I'd like to say I like where this thread is going but it's come and gone along with Robbie Farah's credibility.
 
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