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Canadian Official Escorted From House For Others' Facebook Comments
New submitter zayyd writes "The CBC reports that publicly-elected Gerry Rogers, member of the Provincial Government for Newfoundland and Labrador, 'has been removed from the house of assembly for refusing to apologize for comments made by other users on a Facebook group of which she had been added to as a member.' Rogers was unwillingly added to a Facebook Group which included comments of death threats aimed at Premier Kathy Dunderdale from other users. From the article: 'Dunderdale said her government understands how Facebook groups work, and she said it is up to every MHA to monitor the comments posted on Facebook groups to which they belong.' Facebook's policies for Groups are somewhat clear, even if they don't actually answer the question of 'Can I prevent people from adding me to a new group?'"
You just seem more insane year after year. I wonder if there will be a day when Canadians gripe that they're on the verge of moving to the U.S.
"Well!" think half the other MPs, "Thank god I don't even know how to use a computer."
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Was she removed from the building? Or was she removed from her job? She is an elected official, was a trail needed to remove her? Or can the majority party remove any member with enough votes?
No doubt there's something in her Facebook activity history indicating whether she joined herself or was added by someone else. That should be all the proof she needs.
Log in or piss off.
She was removed for "contempt", for refusing to apologize. This seems like a misuse of that kind of procedure. Contempt should be for, for example, swearing at another politician in the chambers. Being able to remove elected politicians on such a slim pretext is very dangerous to democracy.
"What kind of message is that sending to the people of the province, to our children in the province, when we talk about bullying and harassment and intimidation?" said King.
Get a grip.
Rogers ... also said she was "appalled" that the house of assembly had been suspended over the matter.
As should everyone in her province and the rest of the country.
Dunderdale said her government understands how Facebook groups work, and she said it is up to every MHA to monitor the comments posted on Facebook groups to which they belong.
Good luck with that.
And here I thought we had a monopoly on stupid politicians here in the States.
The proper form that the apology should have taken is this, "I am sorry that anyone was offended because someone added me to a Facebook Group that included tasteless comments, comments that may constitute illegal threats of violence, made by someone else. I do not condone such language."
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
I guess if they want to burn you in politics, they will find a way...no matter how ass backwards.
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
Add Kathy Dunderdale and her allies to as many unseemly Facebook groups as possible.
Apologizing is serious business.
Speaking as a Canadian... yawn. This is not getting much attention in Canada. It's just a couple of parties in a provincial legislature finding something new to bicker about. The same sort of thing happened last week in New Brunswick over who called someone a "witch" first, so they could determine who had to retract it (they had to go back to video of the session to answer that one). This one just happens to involve Facebook, and so it's sexy to some media.
What happened is entirely routine. Someone was involved in something that goes against the decorum of the legislature, someone else complained. They wouldn't apologize, so they were tossed out of the building for the day. They leave the FB group and the whole thing goes away. Almost nobody outside the legislature gives a damn, except to point out that it's not a terribly professional or productive environment if this is taking up significant time.
If the same thing had happened only not involving Facebook, the story would not be posted here. Politics is absurd on either side of the border, only people outside Canada don't see the local variety of "absurd" very often. Today you get to.
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
..nobody had been removed for the outright lies and slander of the various political attack ads that have been running in Canada. Apparently you can only be removed for something you didn't do or say.
Politicians fail to understand technology!
[/breathless-newscaster-voice]
Nothing to see hear. Move along, now...
Creating Nazi/Anarchist/pro-baby torture groups on Facebook and adding public officials to them.
Wee!
I think there's already a standard hashtag for this.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
... it's antisocial media at its worst: screwing up the lives of people whether they use it or not.
Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
Please do not add Dunderdale into every vile racist, misogynistic, gambling websites. Though it would teach her a valuable lesson on what is controllable and what is not in the internet, such thing could technically be illegal.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
"I'm sorry that Kathy Dunderdale, the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, does not understand how basic technology such as social media works. I am also sorry that her office makes knee jerk decisions based on bad information and do not take the time to validate facts before making unwarranted demands. I am sorry that Newfoundland and Labrador has such an inept government, though I am pleased that they were able to solve all the other pressing issues and problems before proceeding on this most important issue."
Living in Newfoundland myself, I've been hearing non-stop about her exploits as premier lately. It seems she's bat-shit crazy - That is, moreso than the rest of us. Among some of the other things she's tried to do have been to seal public spending records to make it impossible to see what the province is doing with its money, slashing education budgets, aggressive politics, compulsive lying and just generally being a slimeball.
Her predecessor (from the same political party - the provincial equivalent to the Conservative party) fought tooth and nail against the Harper government, even going so far as to recommend voting against him, but she regularly rolls out the red carpet and kisses ass whenever the prime minister and his cronies are around. It's obvious that like most of our premiers, she only wants to get in good with the federal government so that she can move up to a position there, and really has no other concerns than that. Her tactics are almost identical to the Harper government, to boot.
Sad thing is, this keeps happening because people here vote based on their voting history, not their actual ideals or which party would do the best job.
Screw the rules, I have green hair!
However, this is more like charging someone with armed robbery just because they were in the store at the same time it was robbed. Anyone can walk into a store you're in and rob it, just like anyone can add you to their Facebook group and act like an asshole.
Probably not. When he said "He was with a friend that was committing armed robbery..." he probably means that his friend was participating in the robbery, but wasn't carrying a gun. This has been the standard for centuries in many countries. The guy driving a getaway car is considered as guilty as the guy pulling the trigger. Likewise, if they get into a shootout with the cops and a bystander is killed by a shot from a cop's gun, the robbers are charged with murder, not the cop. It was their actions, together, that lead to someone being killed.
He's either a grad student, took a long time to get his degree, got more than one degree, started his degree later in life, or got his /. account really young.
Heck, I only finished school in 2000 and I've got a 5-digit ID.
Misamericist is a closer butchery of English (or proper Merkin if you prefer). The fear only applies to their insane worship of violence...
The media is but a dim reflection; in this case, dimmer.
>> Can I prevent people from adding me to a new group?'
> If the answer is anything other than an unqualified yes, then Facebook
> is fatally flawed and no reasonable person should ever use it.
No, you cannot prevent yourself from being added to groups. One of Zuckerbergs's friends was so pissed off at this, that he created a NAMBLA group and added Zuck. See http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2010/10/07/mark-zuckerberg-joins-the-north-american-man-boy-love-association-and-other-adventures-in-facebook-groups/
> Blogger Michael Arrington seems to have already performed a helpful
> proof-of-concept by adding Mark Zuckerberg to a group supposedly
> representing NAMBLA, the North American Man-Boy Love Association.
But wait... there's more more...
> Zuckerbergâ(TM)s addition to the group is broadcast to all of his friends,
> as shown in the image above.
That's right. Not only can be added to groups you don't like, but each addition is broadcast to everyone on your friends list. Imagine the following scenario...
* gay university student hides sexual orientation from parents
* joins the university "Queer Chorus" (yes, that's what they called themselves)
* the president of the "Queer Chorus" adds them to the "Queer Chorus" Facebook group
* this addition *IS BROADCAST TO EVERYBODY ON THE PERSON'S FRIENDS LIST*
* since parents usually demand to be on their kids friends list, they were recipients of the broadcast message of their child being added to the group
See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444165804578008740578200224.html
I'm not repeating myself
I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user