The Twitter hunt for ‘racist’ Steve @Lapwnge: Ashley Cole and Ashley Young must be avenged
THERE was little racism in evidence at the Euro 2012 Championships in The Ukraine and Poland. The BBC and the tabloids had warned England fans about neo-Nazi gangs waiting to murder blacks, Asians and Jews. In “Anarchy in the Ukraine – ‘Nazi’ militia train yobs to fight our fans“, the Sun showed us local thugs rehearsing for murder with wooden knives. But Ashley Young’s family sat in the stands for England’s match with Italy came home not in coffin, as Sol Campbell told BBC viewers black fans might, but on the smart seats of a passenger plane.
The message was clear: we will not tolerate those uncultured (Daniel Pudsey writing for the LSE) East Europeans living in a backward land “notorious for its extremist yobs“ (Sun) with “endemic racism“ (Daily Mail).
Upset at not being allowed to show our racial superiority in being able to spot and stamp out racism in the minds of those inferior Poles and Ukrainians (oh, the irony), the Sun looks to twitter, source of news and racism. IN “RACIST TROLLS TARGET THE TWO ASHLEYS”, the Sun says that England’s Young and Ashley Cole have been racially abused on twitter. Both players missed penalty kicks as England crASHed out. Both have dark skin.
The tweeters are cited: @Lapwnage @JordyEFCBoy, @jordanfoster97 and @johnbcfcmillman.
The Sun notes: “The racists were soon rounded upon by other Twitter users who warned they had been reported to Scotland Yard’s online hate crime monitoring website.”
@Lapwnage tweeted: “Don’t even care if i get arrested, ashley young is a worthless n***** and same goes for that monkey ashley cole. They should be deported to Africa.”
Adding: “All I got to say is this was just a joke. Police know i was kiddin around and they won’t bother me.”
Then the West Midlands Police speaks via its account: “Wrong. Your comments may constitute a public order offence.”
Hats off to the WMP for using its time to tweet and show off how it is on the side of the angels.
The accounts @Lapwnage,@johnbcfcmillman,@JordyEFCBoy,@jordanfoster97 are no longer live on twitter. The righteous tweeters have purged twitter of the wrong-minded. (Although those tweeters who called for Emma West to be raped remain at large.)
For his racist tweets aimed at Bolton footballer Fabrice Muamba, Liam Stacey was sent to prison for 56 days. In sentencing Stacey, district judge John Charles opined: “At that moment, not just the footballer’s family, not just the footballing world, but the whole world were literally praying for his life. Your comments aggravated this situation.”
Wow, indeed. A tweet can do that.
Charles added.
“I have no choice but to impose an immediate custodial sentence to reflect the public outrage at what you have done.”
No choice? Public outrage is the guide for sentencing? The tweets are odious, signs of a pathetic mind. But should the tweeters be hounded by the police and jailed for causing offence? This is a dangerous road to go down…
Posted: 26th, June 2012 | In: Key Posts, Sports, Technology Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
