Liberal steps down due to comments made as a teenager.

I think it's actually a huge reason why so many people in my generation are turned off of politics. We're used to speaking off the cuff, let alone posting this stuff online, which has a permanent memory of everything you've ever said. And that's before we even get into pictures and images. Most of us aren't fit to run for office in the current context.

I don't doubt that other generations also said offensive and controversial things in their teens. The difference is there isn't a permanent record of it. 

Maybe in 10 years, most people will be patient about old internet bullshit.

socialdemocratic the coat hanger remark is well beyond "off the cuff"

i would know if she had or even had any inclination to be so mean spirited. i have full access to every social media account and her phone messages. i'm a cool mom, imv, and we're only 18 years apart. i'm a sole parent her dad's dead and there's not much if anything she hides from me, or my mom.

good for you on relating. i don't. maybe it's a Liberal thing.

I'll (not proudly) admit that I've probably said worse things. I think people should be allowed to make mistakes and grow from them. If the only people we allowed into our movement were civil, patient, law-abiding, disciplined, AND progressive, all from the tender age of 16, we probably wouldn't have much of a movement.

I know we're talking about a Liberal here. But everyone is guilty of it to varying degrees. 

alan smithee wrote:

socialdemocraticmiddle wrote:

I'll (not proudly) admit that I've probably said worse things. I think people should be allowed to make mistakes and grow from them. If the only people we allowed into our movement were civil, patient, AND progressive, all from the tender age of 16, we probably wouldn't have much of a movement.

I know we're talking about a Liberal here. But everyone is guilty of it to varying degrees. 

Thank you for the reality check. It seems some of us (I won't mention names) are human perfection.

The rest of us (majority) are not.

If it came out that Steven Harper made the same kind of comments 40 years ago and not just 4 no one here would be as forgiving nor would we chalk it up to silly childhood antics.

It's not really fair that this womans possible amazing political career came to a grinding halt before it started but we can't really feign surprise over it. This is politics 101.   I wish more people would learn how things cannot be unsaidand to think before we speak.

I would last 7 minutes as a politician before one of you kind babblers found compromising pictures of me :)

Sean in Ottawa wrote:

I'm not a Liberal -- and I would not want to be measured by this standard. I am quite careful what I say and am comfortable that I can live with it over the longer term but what I said at age 17 -- I would not want that to define me now and I wouldn't have wanted it to define me at age 21. I disagree that the period between 17 and 21 is not hugely significant.

At issue is not core beliefs but the harshness of her language and the degree of offence she went to to make her point. She was acting in anger against what she thought was bigotry/racism/prejudice. I prefer a person like her who would react over a person who would hear it and say nothing.

In this case it looked like an angry exchange-- we do not have the context but I can imagine what she might have been reacting to. The coathanger thing is harsh but I remember in a fight with a pro-lifer back when I was in my teens introducing the concept of retro-active abortion to my retort which is no better. On a bad day I might say something harsh now again -- although at my age I know better than to allow that to be recorded for future use against me.

 

This isn't a Liberal issue. This is about human beings being human beings. We all do and say things in a fit of anger or antagonism. (With the exception of certain Saints among us)

do you know anyone who has had to use a coat hanger?

pookie wrote:

quizzical wrote:

do you know anyone who has had to use a coat hanger?

yes

but let's be real. the reaction is not about the coat hanger. it is about suggesting that the person should have been aborted.

I don't like this. People should get over it and let her stand for office. This is bull. Even if she is a Lib, I would have liked to have seen her run. No oe is perfect, and we all say stupid things as kids. I say get over it, and let the voters decide.

quizzical wrote:

my reaction is primarily the absolute disregard for women who have been forced to used one and then for suggesting someone should be dead.

people who think alive people should be dead or are a waste of skin are not worth my time and definitely not my consideration. my family have had those sentiments directed at them too many times.

Again, I am not disputing that the comment is offensive.  To equate it to murderous intent or perhaps genocide - I can't go there. 

it was 3 years ago......not a life time. 

Whatever happened to "je suis Charlie"?

Seriously, I have heard worse among teenagers and I agree with Pookie that there is a bit of anti-abortion, hanky wringing about the coat hanger comment.

This woman is no doubt morally superior to anything or anyone the Liberals have on offer - and they turfed her to protect their useless asses - and progressive folks pile on and condemn her?

The only offensive thing she said, IMO, was this:

Quote:

And in yet another, she reports that she just got her hair cut and looks "like a flipping lesbian."

I'll forgive that one on the grounds of youth. She sounds like my kind of activist. Lord only knows how she got in with a bad crowd (Liberals), but very seriously, if the NDP had an ounce of dignity and courage, they'd give her a call. But then they'd have to purge her for being anti-Israel. So never mind.

you're trying to call me anti-abortion? what a fkn joke. far from it.

i've heard worse from teen agers too but they're not running for public office 3 years later.

Mr. Magoo wrote:

So when she grew and changed and matured, why didn't she delete those tweets?

It's a bit dishonest to say "that's not me" when it's there, with your name beside it, on a service that's there for you to tell the world about you.

This is where the youthfulness might have come in.

NOT saying another young person wouldn't have been savvier, or that recognizing that it could be a problem is not impt.

But....if you tweet alot, you may honestly lose track of individual tweets.

I've been tweeting since 2011.  I'm generally careful about what I say, but no way would I recall everything now. 

At some point, if you've been tweeting for five years, and have 50,000 tweets, are you expected to dig through them all before throwing your name into the ring?

Because, let's be honest.  These tweets are extreme, but we have seen that far less could get you turfed.

Sean wrote:

Come on -- she was 17...

Yes, but that was only four years ago. Has she grown up all that much? If it were, say, twenty years ago I'd agree with you. But these were vile comments made only four years ago, and I think it's likely she has not grown up enough by now.

These situations will become increasingly more common as more millenials start entering politics, and we will have to ask ourselves more often, how long ago is long enough? Was that picture really so bad as that? And so forth.

Once again, though, I find myself sooooooooooo glad the internet didn't exist when I was young and callow.

Sineed wrote:

Before you announce you are running for political office, you clean up your social media presence, buffing, polishing, deleting.

Is there also an app for inserting stuff you never said, and backdating it?