CAREFUL NOT TO END YOUR CAREER BEFORE IT STARTS

Nick Swoden, an Australian Young Liberal’s member was expelled from the Queensland Liberal National Party (LNP) after calling President Obama a “monkey” on Twitter. A few minutes after the start of the President’s interview on ABC TV’s Report with Kerry O’Brien, Swoden, a medical student at the University of Queensland tweeted, “I’m not sure why they paid Kerry to fly to America, if they wanted an interview with a monkey surely a Ferry to Taronga would have sufficed,” (referring to Taronga Zoo on Sydney Harbor). Upon discovering this, the LNP held a meeting to discuss Nick’s actions and found that he brought the Party into disrepute. And the party resolved to “expel him from the Liberal National Party,” and thus ending any hope for a career in politics Nick ever had.

Nick says, “I think the people follow me know (it’s a joke) and the people who are my friends know and the people on Twitter don’t unfortunately.” But if that’s the case then why did he make this comment on Twitter? The comment seems purely racist and if he is that’s his choice but if you don’t want people to know then don’t “joke” about it on the Internet. You can only use 140 characters on Twitter. Because of this it can be difficult to convey jest or really any emotion for that matter. Nobody can tell how you’re saying what you’re saying. All they can do is read your words and draw their own conclusions. Word of advice: if you can’t say what you mean on Twitter in your 140 characters don’t post any characters at all. Guess it’s a good thing he’s getting a Medical degree because politics is really an option anymore!

Do you think the LNP was right to have Nick removed from the party?

COMEDIANS SHOULD SAVE THEIR STAND-UP FOR THE COMEDY CLUBS

Aussie comedian, Catherine Deveny got the boot from Melbourne Newspaper The Age after sparking outrage by “attacking” the late Steve Irwin’s daughter Bindi Irwin via her twitter account. Deveny was commenting on the various celebs she noticed arriving at the Logie Awards when she tweeted, “I so do hope Bindi Irwin gets laid #logies.” That night Deveny made comments on lots of stars but this tweet seemed to be the step too far and she was fired. Her ex boss, editor Paul Ramadage said in a statement, “We are appreciative of the columns Catherine has written for The Age over several years but the views she has expressed recently on Twitter are not in keeping with the standards we set at The Age.” Yet again someone is fired because they think what they say on the Internet is harmless.

Comedians are known for their cutting remarks. They purposely don’t hold back to get the biggest reaction from their audience. But those comments are best saved for when they are solely representing themselves, and here Deveny forgot that she’s never not representing her work. It would not have been so bad if she were doing a stand up show and she made this comment because people would be expecting crass language, but over the Internet a comment like that barely ever gets communicated the way you would want it to. The audience couldn’t see her when she said it and they couldn’t see what she was seeing when she said it. It was completely unexpected and all they saw was a columnist for their newspaper making crude comments. Maybe firing her was a bit drastic but this may not have been her first strike and suggesting that a 12 year old have sex was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Good news is now she can say whatever she wants on Twitter.

Do you think Catherine the comedian should have been let go?