Should people be judged on old social media posts?

Kermit.de.frog

So erm, there is so many more but this fella who is the head of the Ulster Unionist Party up north is going to have an interesting day!

Should people be held to account for tweets 10 years a go? Is it fair? Don't people change in that time?

Not everyone but i'd say a lot of people change.

Whatever about someone posting something stupid in their teens but Beattie was in his mid-40s when he tweeted the above.

People can change.

This guy however is 57 this year, his tweets are 10ish years old. Not sure people change so much once they get to their 40s.

Wiki says this lad is characterised as a progressive and liberal 😂

thefallingman

I don't get why people would want to tweet crap like this in the first place, regardless of age.

Teacher2020

I think society has come a long way in the last 10 years or so. 10 years ago those kind of 'jokes' were somewhat acceptable. They were all over social media at the time. You just have to look at sitcoms from the 90s and 00s and see how badly some of the 'jokes' have aged. I wouldn't hold someone accountable for those 10 years later.

JimmyVik

Looks like a couple of jokes to me.

People have been sending jokes to each other since email was invented.

I wish people would just get over themselves.

Kermit.de.frog

It seems to be far more than a couple of tweets in this case to be fair. This is the least offensive stuff.

silverharp

there should be something like a 10 year rule

People are too easily offended these days and jump on the bandwagon straight away.

I don't know why, maybe they think it's give them a sense of power or gives them an excuse to exercise their inner high horse.

Snow flake generation.

freshpopcorn

It would deepened on the post ie somebody said the odd offensive joke not really if they were calling for large members of a minority community to be stoned to death then maybe.

I do think people love destroying and trying to ruin people that they may not agree with more so than the caring act in calling people out on things that they put on.

AyeGer

People can change yes. But I’d be suspicious when a politician changes though, especially when the so called change happens to further their political goals.

wench

Didn't this all kick off because he posted something tasteless and offensive at the weekend? Perhaps he hasn't changed that much...

I Blame Sheeple

Unless you can make a life changing profit out of his demise and I mean a literal, never ever work again life changing profit, why would you give a flying hoot what anybody said 10 years ago? It's not like you can go back and remove the offense already doled out to the people who read it then.

Ironic but I saw a tweet recently by a scorned young lady that went along the lines of; ''Wow you're still thinking about that argument 2 years later how empty must your life be?" and I can't help but feel like she's onto something there when I see your OP.

realdanbreen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118529556#Comment_118529556

Well I suppose he is progressive if the benchmark for such in Unionism is Edwin Poots former leader of the DUP who believes the world is 6000 years old(6025 to be precise)!

SEPT 23 1989

only people on the right

Sonics2k

Context, and age of the person matter a lot. What a fully grown adult is saying on social media, compared to some young and dumb teenager, are very different things.

Now, if you can see a progression of character over time, then it's safe to say the old actions are not the same as their thoughts now.

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058229700/should-people-be-judged-on-old-social-media-posts

Man makes jokes. What's the issue??

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118529606#Comment_118529606

Should the Simpsons be banned? They called the French "cheese-eating surrender monkeys"

HBC08

UUP politician is a backwards eejit....what a stocker!

I don't think people should be judged on ten year old tweets especially when they were young teenagers as has happened in a few cases the last year or two.

I don't think you'd need to trawl through twitter to find evidence that Doug Beattie isn't a great guy.He suits NI politics though and this will do him mo harm.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118529581#Comment_118529581

I agree.

But a couple of them are good lines in fairness. I had no idea who the fella was. I thought it was the one liner thread by mistake when I started reading them. Then read a few posts and realised it is a cleverly angled political thread.

If I remember correctly none of Gerry Adams posts got him in trouble - even though he referenced 'Django Unchained' once. Other times there were some bizarre ones about Teddy Bears and quotes from avant garde poets.

At least a few one the ones referenced in the OP got a smile out of me. If they were in the one liner thread they surely would have got a few likes.

Surprised most political parties don't have one of their PR team who will delete past tweets from anyone even interested in running for their party. Seems a simple enough thing to have done.

AyeGer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118530776#Comment_118530776

The ‘jokes’ he made.

dxhound2005

Everyone should do it. A teenager posting offensive content now could be ruling themselves out of some lines of work in the future.

NickNickleby

I believe we're heading into a brave new world. One where the world will be divided into two types of people. The first lot will be falling over themselves to be offended, and the second lot falling over themselves to apologise. Nirvana.

AyeGer

Even if he is dumped by the UUP. Jim Allisters TUV will welcome him with open arms.

Capt'n Midnight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118529556#Comment_118529556

That says a lot about Wiki. Back in the day he would have been progressive and liberal compared to some in the TUV. Defo not militant enough for the PUP even if other things aligned.

But then changed his style to appear more progressive and more liberal than when he was in the DUP so he'd be more palatable/less repugnant to the UUP. Wouldn't have gotten into NI21 though.

Have the DUP played their hand too early ? It's only just at the start of the election cycle so looks like there'll be a lot of mud slung by May 5th. If it's the DUP they are opening Pandora's box. Shafting the UUP means that the next first minister will be digging with the other foot.

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118531033#Comment_118531033

I don't see any issue with them.

He pops up on Twitter the odd time and seems an alright auld sort compared to a lot of Unionist politicians.

AyeGer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118531957#Comment_118531957

I thought so too I was following him for a while. He seemed decent enough not like the extreme Allister or any of the DUP hardliners.

BrianD3

Must admit I laughed at the p*key one. I'd say some p*keys would laugh at it too.

Pawwed Rig

Anything you do before the age of 30 should be deleted forever. After that you're fair game

growleaves

They're stupid jokes but they're also as old as the hills. They're schoolboy jokes.

They didn't "cause distress" to anyone. That's like saying you find knock-knock jokes distressing.

I don't believe it. I think this political society is full of liars who feign offense for political reasons.

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118532393#Comment_118532393

There was one about Scots and Hookers too but I lost it

walkonby

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118530786#Comment_118530786

No they didn’t, Groundskeeper Willy—the Scottish stereotype who they portray as a total weirdo—did.

Strumms

I’ll never get why people want to post ‘every single’ brain fart they have on social media…tedious, boring and dangerous…. teens and twenty’s I get as to a degree they’ve been enabled and almost brainwashed by this age of the fûckin attention seeker where simply likes and comments and people paying attention to them is as good as winning a bunch of money on a scratch card… it’s weird..some people out there would value 1000 likes/comments over 1000 euros it seems..

i simply use it to keep up with friends and family that’s it… I don’t get what motivates people to be using it for any other purposes…

Danzy

If you very active on twitter, you are a knob.

If you are angry on or about something on twitter you are an exceptional knob head.

Pawwed Rig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118533357#Comment_118533357

Because not everyone is exactly like you I would guess. I use facebook a bit to chat about football and learn about underage players coming through. Keeping up with LOI is not that easy so their facebook updates are useful.

I do groan when I see people post stuff that might come back to haunt them.

Potential-Monke

I often said that if I managed to create the media company I believe I could make if I had money to begin with, I would call it Potential Monkey Productions. But judging by the replies to most my posts in these forums, that probably wouldn't be a good idea.

It seems the trawling of old Twitter posts is still going on:

https://www.rte.ie/news/ulster/2022/0126/1276060-sinn-fein/

revelman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118529590#Comment_118529590

As a matter of interest, what sitcoms from the 90s and 00s are problematic?

km991148

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118530786#Comment_118530786

It should be banned, but mainly because it's shite.

Same as quoting the Simpsons out of context to pass as humour, ban that too.

Pawwed Rig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118538702#Comment_118538702

Depends what you consider problematic. Fr Ted, for example, had a lot of nazi imagery in it which would be less acceptable now. Friends would never be made now without a more diverse cast. Family Guy was full of racism. The Cosby Show and Fresh Prince were oft criticised for showing unrealistic realities for black people.

revelman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118538723#Comment_118538723

I understand everyone will have different views on these things and I don’t know what your own views are - I take it you are describing oft used criticism. My own view is that people don’t seem to understand the powerful political role that satire has played through history.

Definition of satire: “the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues”

Father Ted was full of satire. I didn’t really watch Family Guy but I’m sure it could be interpreted in the same way. As for the point about the Cosby Show and Fresh Prince, some people might say that the criticism you outline is a tad condescending. Should only certain “realities” be depicted for certain races? I enjoyed the Fresh Prince but didn’t really look at it from the race angle. I just thought it was funny.

Teacher2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118538702#Comment_118538702

I didn't say they were problematic - I said their jokes have aged badly and wouldn't be acceptable today. This is just a few off the top of my head.

Friends - Transgender jokes about Chandler's Dad, Fat jokes about Monica, lots of gay jokes in general

HIMYM - Barney tricking women into bed means they aren't providing informed consent. His actions were on par with sexual assault.

Home improvement was full of misogyny

Big Bang Theory is full of gender stereotyping and fat shaming jokes.

El Tarangu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118538702#Comment_118538702

All of them, probably.

One thing that I remember is that there was a storyline in 'Friends' about Chandler's father being transgender or a a crossdresser or similar; the whole thing was treated with disgust and derision by all of the characters. Similarly, a storyline about Chandler and Joey being molested by a tailor (including the fact that Joey would have been groped as a teenager) being gas craic with zero negative consequences - I can't imagine anything like that being approved by producers these days.

revelman

I must be a total dinosaur. I understand that there are jokes from these shows that would not be acceptable today. But everyone seems to take things so literally and seriously today and there doesn’t seem to be any understanding of satire. Often in the past, serious issues were joked about in order to make deeper political points about those issues. It seems to be a narrower and narrower range of subjects that can be joked about today. As a matter of interest, what do people under 30 find funny today? What are the sitcoms that people find funny?

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118532795#Comment_118532795

Aye, this thread definitely seems to have been started more as a witch-hunt against an individual politician than the benign question posed in the title.

AckwelFoley

As Unionists goes he's about the best of them, he's not a bitter dinosaur like most of them in the other party the DUP. I used to be on twitter and followed him. He quite comfortably referred to himself as Irish, albeit British. Alot of the hardline unionists would hardly acknowledge the existence of anything South of the border. He's never been one of them. While his tweets weren't going to end well, I don't think it makes him a bad person and would think he's a benefit to Northern Irish politics over some of the headbangers up there.

Potential-Monke

I think I'd pay to watch wokies sit through Married with Children, Al would have them fuming in the first scene!

BattleCorp1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118532524#Comment_118532524

Knock knock jokes are offensive to those without hands, or those who have a phobia about knocking on doors or those who are too poor to have doors and, as such, should be banned.*

*Not remotely serious

WrenBoy

All depends on identity and where on the oppression scale they are.