Do Tweets or other Social Media expressions count?

[Dan Stubbs]

Several Harvard students who have been accepted to Harvard but haven't attended class yet had their acceptance to Harvard withdrawn over inappropriate social media posts. Should people be held accountable for what they post online?

Harvard University reportedly pulls 10 student offers over online comments

At least 10 students who were accepted to Harvard University had their admission offers revoked because they made offensive comments online, the university's student newspaper reported.

The Harvard Crimson reported that some students in the incoming freshman class created a private Facebook group in December where they traded images and messages that were often sexually explicit and sometimes mocked racial minorities.
​

President Trump is well known to like using Twitter and has come under question about whether or not his Tweets count as official US documents. He has been involved in several Twitter wars with various celebrities and politicians, the latest the Mayor of Manchester. His Tweets haves "often undermined his own staff with "alternative facts" and could come into play during the Comey testimony.

Trump’s tweets have ‘enraged’ British officials — especially those who work in counterterrorism
The BBC’s Tara McKelvey reports that Trump’s tweets attacking London Mayor Sadiq Khan have “enraged” government officials, “especially those who work in counterterrorism.”

Paul Pillar, a former CIA analyst, tells the BBC that he doesn’t blame U.K. counterterrorism officials for being furious at Trump for attacking London’s mayor.

Loose lips sink ships?
President Trump’s Tweets Are A Gold Mine For Foreign Intelligence
Are President Trump’s tweets dangerous to our national security? I posed this question on Twitter, and immediately was deluged by the usual flood of partisan answers. The president’s supporters think it’s wonderful that Trump bypasses the media filter and speaks his mind directly to the voters. The president’s detractors think he’s revealing a neurotic personality and that his aides should take his phone away from him.

I approached the question differently. As I watched Trump fulminate against hearings in the Senate—during which former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates testified that she warned the White House about fallen National Security Adviser Mike Flynn’s Russian connections—it occurred to me that I was getting a real-time look at how the president of the United States reacts to stress.

More important, it also occurred to me that I was not the only one getting a raw feed of the president’s thoughts and emotions. I realized that any foreign intelligence analyst worth his or her salt was almost certainly taking copious notes.


I doubt this will happen:
Big changes reportedly coming to how Trump manages Twitter account
The White House source told The Wall Street Journal administration staffers wanted to create a system to limit Trump’s Twitter autonomy so that his tweets “don’t go from the president’s mind out to the universe.”

It's absurd to even suggest one can make statements -- in whatever medium --- and then not be responsible for them. What the repercussions handed down as a result are, is an entirely different question.

"Whatever medium" absolutely includes this one. Dishonest posters here are constantly making assertions they can't back up and posting outright fabrications. Even posing the question suggesting they have an "out", only reinforces that blatant dishonesty.

"Once a bell has rung, you cannot unring it". Once a statement is made, it becomes reality. Reality is not negotiable.

I think this is a violation of "Equal Protection under the Law" and can be taken to court.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

I don't think many of us would have jobs if what we posted here were assigned to our actual names. I know I wouldn't. lol

I use my real name because what you see is what you get. I standby what I see or think exceptions are if I am kidding or just messing around. You have to think about which one I am doing. If you can't get it then that is your problem. I would put up my email address but I don't think that is allowed.

Really REALLY not a very smart thing to do.

Your email address is nothing compared to what you have shared with thousands of people you don't know and who have very strong feelings about some explosive issues.

Even you think you can handle anything that happens because of this (you can't), what about other members of your family?

I know from experience.

 

[AsianTrumpSupporter]

I don't think many of us would have jobs if what we posted here were assigned to our actual names. I know I wouldn't. lol

I would. I'm self-employed, so the only person who can fire me is me lol.

 

[JustAnotherNut]

........well.......this IS the internet.




On a serious note........personal opinions, views & beliefs are nowhere near the same as threats, plans, or bragging about what you've done

 

[Divine Wind]

I don't think many of us would have jobs if what we posted here were assigned to our actual names. I know I wouldn't. lol

I would. I'm self-employed, so the only person who can fire me is me lol.

LOL. True. OTOH, if the name of your business was connected to anything controversial, don't you think it would have negative repercussions on your business?

 

[AsianTrumpSupporter]

I don't think many of us would have jobs if what we posted here were assigned to our actual names. I know I wouldn't. lol

I would. I'm self-employed, so the only person who can fire me is me lol.

LOL. True. OTOH, if the name of your business was connected to anything controversial, don't you think it would have negative repercussions on your business?

Possibly, but I'm a workers' comp attorney with over 8 years of experience, including 3 1/2 years on the defense side. In my experience, clients seeking a workers' comp attorney just want someone experienced and competent.

 

[Divine Wind]

........well.......this IS the internet.




On a serious note........personal opinions, views & beliefs are nowhere near the same as threats, plans, or bragging about what you've done

A fair point, but I also think there is a lot more grey between all of those instead of something just black and white. For example, you could believe it is in the best interests of the nation that certain political figures were assassinated yet not make any plans to do it yourself. Couldn't that still be seen as more than just an opinion?

 

[Divine Wind]

I don't think many of us would have jobs if what we posted here were assigned to our actual names. I know I wouldn't. lol

I would. I'm self-employed, so the only person who can fire me is me lol.

LOL. True. OTOH, if the name of your business was connected to anything controversial, don't you think it would have negative repercussions on your business?

Possibly, but I'm a workers' comp attorney with over 8 years of experience, including 3 1/2 years on the defense side. In my experience, clients seeking a workers' comp attorney just want someone experienced and competent.

True, but, IMHO, what is also true would be the exact nature of the controversial topic where clients are concerned.

 

[mdk]

I don't think many of us would have jobs if what we posted here were assigned to our actual names. I know I wouldn't. lol

I would. I'm self-employed, so the only person who can fire me is me lol.

LOL. True. OTOH, if the name of your business was connected to anything controversial, don't you think it would have negative repercussions on your business?

Possibly, but I'm a workers' comp attorney with over 8 years of experience, including 3 1/2 years on the defense side. In my experience, clients seeking a workers' comp attorney just want someone experienced and competent.

 

[AsianTrumpSupporter]

I don't think many of us would have jobs if what we posted here were assigned to our actual names. I know I wouldn't. lol

I would. I'm self-employed, so the only person who can fire me is me lol.

LOL. True. OTOH, if the name of your business was connected to anything controversial, don't you think it would have negative repercussions on your business?

Possibly, but I'm a workers' comp attorney with over 8 years of experience, including 3 1/2 years on the defense side. In my experience, clients seeking a workers' comp attorney just want someone experienced and competent.

I've never chased an ambulance in my life. You're thinking of personal injury lawyers.

 

[Auld Phart]

I don't think many of us would have jobs if what we posted here were assigned to our actual names. I know I wouldn't. lol

I use my real name because what you see is what you get. I standby what I see or think exceptions are if I am kidding or just messing around. You have to think about which one I am doing. If you can't get it then that is your problem. I would put up my email address but I don't think that is allowed.

Did that on another board.

a couple of the posters felt it was there right to do a search on me, visit my FB page, and harass me about family members.

Which is why I no longer use my real name, and had one of the old members of the old board on ignore as soon as they showed up here.

 

[Moonglow]

People would have a very hard time finding me on Facebook...It's under my family nickname.

 

[Pogo]

Depends on what you mean by accountable. If you mean punished for expressing personal opinions, regardless of how insulting said opinions may be to any particular social niche, no. That is the essence of the 1st Amendment.

Slander, libel, and threats that would be actionable under law remain actionable under law in any case.

First Amendment just means the Federal government can't prosecute you for burning your flag or saying the President (any President) is a fucking moron. It doesn't cover illegal comments such as falsely accusing someone of being a traitor or a child molester.

In this case, by accountable, it means they are held responsible for saying it. They can't deny they said it or accuse others of twisting what was clearly a specific statement. Those former Harvard students can't say "I was just joking" or "my dog did it". It's their account and they are responsible for the content.

Or even more bizarrely, once you figure out you stepped in it you can declare the media to be "dishonest" --- for daring to quote you verbatim, complete with audio and video (in the bizarre world of self-delusion, once you declare an event to be an unevent that never happened, anyone who doesn't go along with your Memory Hole self-revision in spite of recorded evidence becomes "dishonest").

---- And then you can flip flop your original faux pas with "DON'T THEY GET SARCASM?" in a delivery that there's no way to qualify as "sarcasm", a delivery you were offered a way out with an alternative explanation and declined it, doubling down on the literal in no uncertain terms...

---- And then, once the winds blow the other way and the "sarcastic" characterization, dishonest though it is, deflates your original hair-on-fire rhetoric with your drones, you can flip flop on your own flip flop, reverting to the original with "I was sarcastic but not that sarcastic".

"Oh my remark is bullshit? Well I --- uh ---- it was 'sarcasm'. Yeah that's it --- sarcasm. I don't know what I was babbling about earlier. I was just grabbing at anything. So I'm with you, the remark is bullshit.

"Oh wait --- you guys over here, you do like that remark? OK well uh.... I was um 'sarcastic' but not that sarcastic. So I'm with you too. I agree with everybody on both sides."

Having it both ways -- Priceless. Having it one way, then turning it the other way, then turning back to the first way again ---- mental illness, psychosis, disconnection from reality, self-delusion.

Orwell described "Doublethink". Rump has taken it to "Triplethink". Obviously, there's no end in that game.

 

[Pogo]

Several Harvard students who have been accepted to Harvard but haven't attended class yet had their acceptance to Harvard withdrawn over inappropriate social media posts. Should people be held accountable for what they post online?

Harvard University reportedly pulls 10 student offers over online comments

At least 10 students who were accepted to Harvard University had their admission offers revoked because they made offensive comments online, the university's student newspaper reported.

The Harvard Crimson reported that some students in the incoming freshman class created a private Facebook group in December where they traded images and messages that were often sexually explicit and sometimes mocked racial minorities.
​

President Trump is well known to like using Twitter and has come under question about whether or not his Tweets count as official US documents. He has been involved in several Twitter wars with various celebrities and politicians, the latest the Mayor of Manchester. His Tweets haves "often undermined his own staff with "alternative facts" and could come into play during the Comey testimony.

Trump’s tweets have ‘enraged’ British officials — especially those who work in counterterrorism
The BBC’s Tara McKelvey reports that Trump’s tweets attacking London Mayor Sadiq Khan have “enraged” government officials, “especially those who work in counterterrorism.”

Paul Pillar, a former CIA analyst, tells the BBC that he doesn’t blame U.K. counterterrorism officials for being furious at Trump for attacking London’s mayor.

Loose lips sink ships?
President Trump’s Tweets Are A Gold Mine For Foreign Intelligence
Are President Trump’s tweets dangerous to our national security? I posed this question on Twitter, and immediately was deluged by the usual flood of partisan answers. The president’s supporters think it’s wonderful that Trump bypasses the media filter and speaks his mind directly to the voters. The president’s detractors think he’s revealing a neurotic personality and that his aides should take his phone away from him.

I approached the question differently. As I watched Trump fulminate against hearings in the Senate—during which former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates testified that she warned the White House about fallen National Security Adviser Mike Flynn’s Russian connections—it occurred to me that I was getting a real-time look at how the president of the United States reacts to stress.

More important, it also occurred to me that I was not the only one getting a raw feed of the president’s thoughts and emotions. I realized that any foreign intelligence analyst worth his or her salt was almost certainly taking copious notes.


I doubt this will happen:
Big changes reportedly coming to how Trump manages Twitter account
The White House source told The Wall Street Journal administration staffers wanted to create a system to limit Trump’s Twitter autonomy so that his tweets “don’t go from the president’s mind out to the universe.”

Obama and Soros thought it was great to have ppl arrested for anything they said that wasn't for the a hole., the gays, etc. If you acted like the Bill Ayres Obama cult you were good to go and could say anything you wanted. Kind of like ANTIFA.

Soros, Obammma, Clinton wanted the UN to control the internet, they even had the FCC try to pass a Fairness doctrine passed to stop the truth or content that they disproved of...Its called the freedom of speech. You live for it. and in some Nations you die for it.

---------------------------- Link?







(the Fairness Doctrine, which no longer exists, was championed by Republicans in the 1940s and applied to radio -- not the internet which didn't exist yet as Al Gore was just then being born)

 

[JustAnotherNut]

........well.......this IS the internet.




On a serious note........personal opinions, views & beliefs are nowhere near the same as threats, plans, or bragging about what you've done

A fair point, but I also think there is a lot more grey between all of those instead of something just black and white. For example, you could believe it is in the best interests of the nation that certain political figures were assassinated yet not make any plans to do it yourself. Couldn't that still be seen as more than just an opinion?

Yes I think that's more than opinion........only because most reasonable people wouldn't really consider having someone they dislike killed.


Kinda like Madonna and many others saying Trump should be killed (or whatever it was she did say). And Kathy Griffins bizarre moment of insanity.......neither of them really intended to run right out & do the deed.........but they should be held accountable for it. Even if it's just a slap on the wrist & told the legality of their offense & not to do it again.

And by contrast, any of the conversations on this board or others like it, are just that.....arguments, opinions, conversations. Even though this is a public forum, it's still comprised of members and it does differ (to me anyway) from Facebook, Twitter, etc. where the public can see everything posted as long as they have an account & followers........on a message board a person would have to search it out specifically, become a member, then search thru the millions of threads & posts to find something offensive and interpret it as offensive or just talk. Kind of like the difference is 'they come to you or you come to them'...Make sense?

 

[ScienceRocks]

I feel for the first time in my life that I am doing the least offensive shit online and feel the best by my trial I leave behind.

Pray to god no one important to me finds my stormfront or earlier usmb history.

 

[JOSweetHeart]

Should people be held accountable? In my opinion, it depends on how far they go. Everyone is going to have an opinion. How the opinions are put out there to me is what makes all the difference.

God bless you always!!!

Holly

 

[Divine Wind]

I don't think many of us would have jobs if what we posted here were assigned to our actual names. I know I wouldn't. lol

I use my real name because what you see is what you get. I standby what I see or think exceptions are if I am kidding or just messing around. You have to think about which one I am doing. If you can't get it then that is your problem. I would put up my email address but I don't think that is allowed.

Did that on another board.

a couple of the posters felt it was there right to do a search on me, visit my FB page, and harass me about family members.

Which is why I no longer use my real name, and had one of the old members of the old board on ignore as soon as they showed up here.

An excellent point; no matter how honest a person is or forthright, there will always be a few fucking trolls harassing people because they are not honest nor forthright.

 

[Divine Wind]

........well.......this IS the internet.




On a serious note........personal opinions, views & beliefs are nowhere near the same as threats, plans, or bragging about what you've done

A fair point, but I also think there is a lot more grey between all of those instead of something just black and white. For example, you could believe it is in the best interests of the nation that certain political figures were assassinated yet not make any plans to do it yourself. Couldn't that still be seen as more than just an opinion?

Yes I think that's more than opinion........only because most reasonable people wouldn't really consider having someone they dislike killed.


Kinda like Madonna and many others saying Trump should be killed (or whatever it was she did say). And Kathy Griffins bizarre moment of insanity.......neither of them really intended to run right out & do the deed.........but they should be held accountable for it. Even if it's just a slap on the wrist & told the legality of their offense & not to do it again.

And by contrast, any of the conversations on this board or others like it, are just that.....arguments, opinions, conversations. Even though this is a public forum, it's still comprised of members and it does differ (to me anyway) from Facebook, Twitter, etc. where the public can see everything posted as long as they have an account & followers........on a message board a person would have to search it out specifically, become a member, then search thru the millions of threads & posts to find something offensive and interpret it as offensive or just talk. Kind of like the difference is 'they come to you or you come to them'...Make sense?

Key phrase "most reasonable people". Agreed, "most reasonable people". Do you think Trump is free to speak or do you think his words have caused ant-Muslim, anti-Liberal or any other form of violence? Should he be accountable for "rabble rousing" or not? The Harvard students? If Harvard didn't pull their acceptances and just one committed an act of rape or racist violence, wouldn't the University then be held accountable on a "what if?" that turned into a certainty? Where do we draw the line?

 

[Divine Wind]

Or even more bizarrely, once you figure out you stepped in it you can declare the media to be "dishonest" --- for daring to quote you verbatim, complete with audio and video (in the bizarre world of self-delusion, once you declare an event to be an unevent that never happened, anyone who doesn't go along with your Memory Hole self-revision in spite of recorded evidence becomes "dishonest")....

Nice rant, but the fact remains that, be it you or Trump, people can say whatever they like but that doesn't mean other people have to accept their bullshit excuses. In the case of Trump, his favorability/unfavorability ratings give an indication on whether or not his comments are accepted as truthful, honest or factual. You, OTOH, have the Cloak of Anonymity, like everyone else on this forum, so you can't be personally held accountable for your posts unless someone connects you with your real name and your real job.