Dear every public figure ever,
If you wouldn't shout something inside a crowded store, you shouldn't post it on Twitter either.
Easy rule. Can save you lots of trouble.
Still, the very public nature of Twitter manages not to factor in the judgment of many tweeters, resulting in unforgiving public relation catastrophes.
The latest victim is Toronto school board trustee Sam Sotiropoulos, who couldn't help but type out his contempt for some misbehaving students.
Wednesday he tweeted, "Had some eye opening experiences at one of our schools yesterday with a couple out of control youth. Seriously ill-bred twerps."
The tweet was soon deleted. But Sotiropoulos continued to stand behind it.
In a meeting with reporters, he read from a statement explaining that "When the student in question was confronted about their behavior, the torrent of taunts, profanity and abuse that was their response is something no TDSB (Toronto District School Board) employee, student or parent should be asked to disregard or ignore."
He also retweeted several messages of support he'd been receiving:
Well done @trusteesam it's about time the truth is shown of what teachers put up with every day. Ignorant? No...truthful? Yes!
— Kay Jay (@karensmeerkat) October 10, 2012
@trusteesam I'm a student myself and i understand that you were being honest. Most students these days are arrogant.
— This Purple Alien (@MikeDGAF26) October 11, 2012
Perhaps. But does that mean school officials should resort to name-calling, broadcast over social media? The school board's vice chair didn't think so, telling CTV "It's not appropriate for an official of the board to make such comments about students and to do it in a public forum."
After a couple more students and board members jumped on the bash-wagon, Sotiropoulos relented and posted an apology from the same Twitter account which launched the controversy.
"As a point of #TDSB professional decorum, I withdraw my remarks re: a pair of anonymous students. I regret my choice of words. Mea culpa," he wrote.
CTV had reported Sotiropoulos was possibly facing sanctions from the school board.
Lesson now possibly learned, as of Friday he was tweeting far less controversial remarks... on the proper way to apply syrup to his son's waffles.
The trick is to use a small hand strainer to apply the maple syrup. Works like a charm every time, waffle ends up uniformly sweet not soggy.
— Sam Sotiropoulos (@TrusteeSam) October 12, 2012
Tweeting about food. Social media, as it was intended.
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