The internet is a record keeper, rendering blatant hypocrisy more difficult than ever to get away with – as is a lack of social media savviness among politicians in this day and age ruled by social platforms.
And while some play the game to their vast advantage, or are at least aware of the nature of the game, others are proving to be fully unprepared for it.
This is something that two candidates of a newly launched British party, Change UK (CUK), have learned this week, after being forced to step down over messages posted on Twitter earlier in their careers.
The tweets that brought the pair down stand in stark contrast to CUK’s platform of keeping the UK in the EU, i.e., preventing Brexit from being implemented.
Breitbart is reporting that one of the politicians, Ali Sadjady, in November 2017 described Romanians – citizens of an EU member-state – living in Britain as “pickpockets” – adding that crime statistics showing that a majority of these petty criminals on the London subway were Romanians “kind of made him want Brexit.”
Sadjady was apologetic about the sentiment, which he said he no longer espouses and justified the tweet by saying it was prompted by “a friend being robbed.”
In another tweet, Sadjady – who has either had a massive change of heart or is not telling the whole truth – speaks against proponents of a second Brexit referendum. Another vote is precisely the platform that CUK stands for.
The liberal party’s main candidate in Scotland Joseph Russo joined Sadjay in stepping down, after it was revealed he in 2012 posted a tweet reading, “Black women scare me. I put this down to be(ing) chased through Amsterdam by a crazy black whore.”
Both politicians seem to be oblivious to their online presence being a public rather than private affair, with Russo describing the revelation of his tweets as “personal scrutiny.”
Only two days before the pair had to resign over what could easily be dubbed as “hate speech” – especially by social media platforms – CUK was launched as a pro-EU party whose candidates from all walks of life stand for UK’s continued EU membership, and condemn those supporting Brexit for engaging in – hate speech.
