While it's faded a bit from the news, the Twitter joke trial (#twitterjoketrial) will have a lingering impact, not only for its outrageous assault on reason and human rights, but for its less immediate effects on humour.
In case you missed it, the brief story is young man in love (or lust -- does it really matter?) is ready to fly off to see the woman he'd formed an attachment to via the net. If you're still snickering at internet match-ups, I'm sure you must be one of those folks lucky enough to meet fabulously interesting folks in drunken pub crawls or on blind dates set up by your friends (yes, that weird guy they thought was "perfect for you" is an indication of what they think you will settle for).
However, when Paul Chambers set off to fly from Nottingham to Ireland, only to be met by delays (anxiously watching the ash reports myself this past week, I can relate). Among the frustrated tweets he sent was the mocking, "Crap! Robin Hood Airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your sh*t together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!"
Yes, it is stupid to make jokes about bombing airports. But is it really worth giving a criminal record (apparently killing his career) and a £1000 fine over that kind of stupid remark?
1 comment:
Yep, it is a stupid joke. Yes paranoia is at an all time high. (Remember the "Hi Jack!" jokes during the seventies?)
And, sadly, yes human rights (to say nothing of liberties) will be trampled until Big Brother (who is not one person but a collective state of mind) decides this particular crisis is over and done with.
I've no objection to internet matches as my nephew, Michael, discovered a truly wonderful woman by this means. Susan and I met through SF fandom and have been together for--oh going on 35 years this coming November.
Glad to hear you made it in spite of ashen skies and thunder gods. Hope you enjoy yourself immensely. LOL.
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