The article written by Jan Moir http://bit.ly/1est0Y has very quickly been condemned by the UK public, largely in unison. Following Derren Brown's tweet about posting a complaint to the PCC I was lucky enough to get mine in before the site slowed to a crawl and then eventually fell over. Over a 1,000 complaints were received, quite a condemnation. She hurriedly released some sort of explanation http://bit.ly/2wLyX9 - well she just kept digging didn't she? My own complaint was a direct response to reading the article which created the sense or feeling that it was a disgusting attack on both Stephen Gately personally and the gay community as a whole. I am entirely heterosexual and yet I spent hours re-tweeting, such was the strength of felling I had (and obviously others shared).
But then alas I read this article http://bit.ly/1x9VLp. PepsiCo. have released a fun application which is aimed at a certain market segment (Men). Although it's a bit silly did it really have to receive the barrage of Twitter criticism leading them to feel the need to apologise? I have to wonder which sex generally complained about this application. Would there have been the same, if any, comment if it was a Diet Coke application showing how to chat up the Diet Coke topless model? It always seems that our female counterparts can have fun and specific applications or adverts to watch but all male only based media must be shared or face the possibility of being condemned as sexist! My experience is that most women would simply laugh off the application or not even really care, but if the question of sisterhood is brought up, well the bandwagon starts rolling! [NB I'm pretty sure my girlfriend and others will have counter arguments!]
So the power of Twitter and other social networking sites, good or bad? It is still early days and that is what is concerning. If we 'gang up' for every incident to complain vociferously at some kind of perceived injustice will the truly meaningful complaints, like that of the Jan Moir case, go largely unheard?
I will always remember one of my bosses who very rarely swore. His colleagues couldn't manage 5 full sentences without an 'F' or a 'B'. When they swore it was just the 'norm' but when my boss swore boy did you know something was wrong. I hope that the impact of social networking, which is still in its infancy, will remain for the long term. However if this is to be possible, I think there is a need to practice restraint and only complain when it's something you truly believe in and not just for the sake of the bandwagon!
Update: [19th October 2009] The PCC have today confirmed that in excess of 21,000 complaints were lodged.
