NASCAR Driver Discovers Negative Power of Twitter
Don’t get us wrong, we love Twitter. We use it ourselves to inform truck drivers. But like any powerful social media tool, if you use it for dubious ends, you might end up getting burned. What kind of dubious ends, you ask? Well, calling someone a “dumb bitch” for starters.
NASCAR up-and-comer Kasey Kahne recently visited a grocery store and got an eyeful of a mom and baby engaged in feeding time. Kasey tweeted that he was no longer interested in shopping or eating due to the shock. Due to Twitter’s momentary nature, users often make and broadcast posts about things they think about for just a few seconds, not thinking that someone out there may take immediate offense and turn it into a social cause. Welcome to the world of social media – everything gets noticed right as it happens, and everyone’s ready to spring into action.
Once Kasey fired off his curt tweet, someone who was following his feed said, “@kaseykahne wow, you’re kind of a douchebag, where would you propose that baby eat, the restroom? Would you eat in the restroom?” Kahne tweeted angrily. “And your a dumb bitch.” You could almost hear the sound of screeching tires as Kasey’s day came to an abrupt halt.
Immediately following, everyone chose their sides on the Twitter fight and all hell broke loose. It was a flurry of four letter words, misspelled insults, CAPS LOCK CLAMMERING, and bad juju. The fight between Kasey and a Twitterer named @knittingrad began. Here’s some of the choice quotes from the fray.
Dear @knittingrad What you’re doing is dumb and unprofessional, Kasey spoke his mind and you’re being an overreacted bitch – @abullins
F**K YOU – I went to look at @knittingrad’s profile. It made me sad, all that pent up anger and aggression. She needs the Lord. – @GennaGirl
sh*t head. @KnittingRad im not doubting that. Since you are a huge liberal, can you DM me some naked pics? 😉 – @HiItsDoug
A women like @KnittingRad r the reason why men beat women for being a stupid c*nt – @nhov70
Anyway – after things got really heated up and even more profane, Kasey decided that his original Tweet was probably an over-reaction and apologized for his crassness. He also posted his apology on his Facebook page where his fans fired off even more insults in his defense, but his actions got the attention of his original complainer. She accepted his apology, made her peace and the incident died down.
But let this be a lesson to you: social media is very public and needs to be handled with care. You don’t always know who’s reading and how they’ll react!