As we all know, social media is a world that presents its own dangers. It is, after all, a world of its own; thieves, liars and fish (of the cat variety). Granted, social media wont stab you, vandalise your home or steal your car BUT it can cause long term personal damage. For personalities such as politicians the damage is their character and how others react to them. One false move and their credibility can plummet faster than the Pound after Brexit – that’s right, I made a political joke. Sue me
Poor Ed
Ed Milliband had a fateful time with social media. the poor fella was snapped mid bite with a bacon sandwich. as such, the internet jumped on that. the image went viral; the reason this is a big deal is he was mid campaign when the image hit. This was the point it could cause the most damage. its a shame really because Ed wasn’t actually a bad guy. i mean he “snaked” his brother (that’s what the kids say right?) who happened to be a better politician. Apart from that though, his morals were… okay. In the modern era of UK politics Labour aren’t quite what they used to be hence the name “New Labour“. good old ed represented that pretty well.
This is the image that damned for a political career of ‘shame’. eventually he even had to come out and admit defeat in the image battle admitting “I would never beat cameron on image”. Other offerings from social media and the internet include Ed compared to Wallace from the Wallace and Gromit series. It isn’t my place to say whether that accurate, but you get the idea. these viral images can forever condemn someone.
Top Gun Bronwyn
Another politician hammered by social media was an Australian politician – Bronwyn Bishop. in mid 2015; Bronwyn fiddled with expenses. Bishop decided it would be a great idea to bill the taxpayer five and a half thousand in order to fly to a Liberal Party helicopter via helicopter. expense fiddling is definitely nothing new. however with this case it is exactly how you’d expect. People caught wind of it all and created memes. 
She didn’t quit. I just want to make that clear – although she is now a laughing stock. Apparently it was big enough for people who didn’t even care about politics to make memes and slate her. To quote revolutionweb
Once people who normally go, “Don’t talk to me about politics, it’s boring”, say, “what about that idiot, Bronywn Bishop?” it’s all over.
needless to say, she wont be living this down any time soon.
Now I know I keep going back to america – and that it may feel like a blog looking at Americans rather than everyone, yet I cant help it. the country is so big, and its characters are so outlandish that one MUST keep looking.
Chuck Grassley
Republican senator Chuck Grassley thought once to tweet about dairy queen – a lovely company across the pond that sells ice cream and fast food. Now most may tweet out talk about how they love a company or the food is great. Grassley however decided to tweet out rather crypticly ” windsor heights dairy queen is good for u kno what”. decipher that as you will. I’m sure he was trying to be subtle or funny. However, that cliffhanger end to the tweet may have made him out to be some sort of pervert to dwellers of the internet.
People like Grassley just remind me to watch what I type. When I eventually make it as primer minister of the world – last thing I want is for people to see my Facebook statuses from when I was 12. It would diminish my position. thinking about it now though, if I was actually prime minister of the world I could just lock those who mock me up in a cell… no, I cant be doing that.
You would think in a world whereby the internet influences everything, these politicians would have lessons on the basics and hire great PR guys. For any politicians out there looking for PR guys I’m available, just pop us a message and I’m sure I could save your dignity.
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