Think Before You Tweet

Yesterday, I had my first “heated” discussion over Twitter. Well, ok heated might be overstating it a bit. Let’s just say lively.

Recently, upon the suggestion of a friend I started to follow DJ Mo Twister over at Twitter. My friend said that his tweets were entertaining. Fine ok, I followed.

I must admit some of his tweets were really entertaining. Mostly those about his travels in Europe.

However there were some tweets exchanged between him and some people that I have to say weren’t nice. It must have been the heat yesterday but after seeing Mo’s reply to someone I kinda got irked and decided to join in the conversation. Let me chronicle it below.

It started with this tweet.

did kris aquino really say she wanted to STAB people who talked smack about Noy? thats awesome. cuz thats my solution for everything too.

someone with the twitter name *youlovealfer* replied to Mo which in turn Mo replied to him with this.

RT @youlovealfer: @djmotwister — i understand her coz thats her brother.–ARE YOU EFFING SERIOUS? stabbing humans, filipinos?

Now, like I stated above, it must have been the heat or it was just a sucky day for me coz normally I won’t even bother but I guess it just irked me. So I sent a tweet over to Mo saying.

@djmotwister dude, it may be bad choice of words but that’s what they are. don’t tell me you’ve never said “i’d kill that guy”. c’mon.

What followed was what would turn out to be a lively exchange between Mo and I. Here’s the rest of the tweet exchange.

@chairmanone youre fucking insane thinking thats justified. wow. im scared for monday cuz of people like you.

 

@djmotwister i never said it was justified. all i’m saying is you’re making such a big deal out of nothing. it’s kris aquino for pete’s sake

 

@djmotwister you really taking kris aquino seriously?

 

@chairmanone its the presidency my friend…im not making a big deal, look at my tweet. i was being sarcastic. “its awesome”. 6 yrs bud.

 

@djmotwister so wait, what’s the presidency got to do with what she said? is she the one running?

 

@djmotwister so ok, you’re saying you take the presidential elections seriosuly. let’s have a discussion. who you voting for and why?

 

@chairmanone oh shit. youre stupid. what does it have to do with the presidency? are u high? the biased mind is so disturbing

 

@djmotwister dude, now with comments like that makes you “stupid” more than me. calling other people stupid when you don’t even know them.

 

@djmotwister coz if what kris says is a barometer of who noynoy is, then i pity your siblings if you have any. for all the crap you say.

First of all at the time Mo tweeted about Kris Aquino’s statement he didn’t even know it was true. So given that he’s a celebrity and all with a lot of followers, why post something that might give people the wrong impression about another person. Is it because she’s Kris Aquino? Because she’s the host of a competing show? I dunno. But that’s not the thing that irked me.

What irked me was how he replied to “youlovealfer”. The guy/girl was making a simple comment which in my opinion has some merit. I mean if it were me and you talk smack about my family I’d kick your ass (if I could).

You have to put things into context. A lot of people have been saying bad things about Noynoy and the Aquino family in general. It’s been a long campaign season and so even if what Kris said was true, people will know that it’s a figure of speech. Something not to be taken literally. The only person Kris would probably stab is James Yap in the even she catches here cheating on him. Ok, ok I’m kidding. Even if she does she probably won’t. For all of Kris’ faults I don’t take her as someone who’d actually stab a person.

So that being said, when I replied to Mo, I only meant to imply that he shouldn’t take things literally. Read between the lines and take everything into context. First of all it might not be true, second he’s an educated person he should know it was probably a figure of speech.

What pisses me off though is how Mo would reply to people. I made a simple comment. No need to be crass about it and start cursing people. Especially someone you don’t know. Even going as far as saying “he’s scared on Monday because of people like me”. He doesn’t even know me, so how can he be scared of me? I never even implied that it’s justified to stab someone when he talks smack about your siblings. Again, it’s probably a figure of speech!

Also, why is he taking what Kris Aquino says seriously? It’s Kris Aquino for pete’s sake. We all know that a character she is. I’m not saying Kris is bad but sometimes she also needs to filter what she says. But Kris is Kris and that’s another topic altogether.

Mo, goes on to say “it’s the presidency my friend”. Huh? When did it become about the presidency? Oh.. because Kris is the sister of Noynoy. Hence what Kris says is a reflection of Noynoy’s character. Great logic! If people’s character were based on the things that their siblings say or their siblings for that matter, I hope that Mo is an only child. I’ll feel bad for his siblings. Imagine being judged because of what goes out of Mo’s mouth.

Replying rudely to people and calling them “stupid” doesn’t make you superior to other people. In fact you’re the one that’s stupid for doing that. Especially if you do it over Twitter. I mean when talking/texting/tweeting to people, especially those you don’t know you should be mindful about what you say. I’m pretty sure Mo’s a smart person. He wouldn’t be where he is if he was dumb. So why talk like that to people? Can’t you carry a decent conversation with strangers? There are ways to get your point across without calling them “stupid”, “idiot” or any other derogatory names for that matter. Case in point, I just had a lively debate with a friend over Facebook chat prior to the incident with Mo. We were trying to convince each other to vote for the other’s candidate. It went pretty well. No name calling was necessary. All’s well that ends well. A lively exchange of opinions can be carried out without the need for calling another person names. It’s not rocket science. It’s just plainly being decent.

Now, I wrote about this incident not to malign Mo. Let’s say it’s my way of telling him and people in general to *think before you tweet*. The Twitterverse is a whole different space than what goes on in normal conversation between friends. You can’t express what you want to say clearly in 140 characters. So there’s always a chance that people might not interpret what you want to say correctly. So all the more you need to be careful with what you say and how you say it.

Hey, for all I know Mo and I might even eventually end up as friends. I’m not judging him as a whole based on this. I’m just saying that sometimes he can be an ass when he tweets. It doesn’t make him a bad person. Just someone who needs to think more before tweeting.

*Disclaimer: At this point in time I am inclined to vote for Noy, Mar and the LP slate but that’s not because I’m biased. Nor is it because I follow them blindly because Noy is the son of Ninoy and Cory. It’s because based on what I see and have read, theirs is the platform that addresses a lot of the issues I care about. Mainly, health care and education. Also it’s because of all the parties, they fielded candidates not because they’re winnable but because they’re actually qualified. Are they the only ones qualified? No. But at least they can actually perform the duties of the post they’re running for.*