If only there was a pop-up on social media that said ‘are you really, really sure you want to share this?’ before we posted things we would later regret.
Take for example DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard, who shared a post from another Facebook user that was as follows:
Oh dear, and that bit in the middle there Dianne where Paul lavishes praise on Die Groot Krokodil? Not that it gets better near the end but here’s News24 with more:
…she said she missed the sentiments made about PW Botha in the middle of the post when she shared it.
“I was sharing many posts about the Johan Booysen matter and his latest suspension and I shared many, many posts by the journalist Paul Kirk,” she told News24.
“He always goes on quite a bit about Johan Booysen [and] I shared it.”
Kohler Barnard said that within a few hours she got a message from her KwaZulu-Natal leader who pointed out what was in the middle of the post.She said she immediately erased it and apologised to him.
Now two weeks later a screenshot has begun to circulate on Twitter, forcing Barnard into another apology:
So is that apology enough to atone for a mistake she herself called ‘incredibly stupid’? No, more hot water awaits:
DA leader Mmusi Maimane said Kohler Barnard would face internal disciplinary procedures and would be given the chance to explain her side of the story.
He also distanced the party from the post saying it did not support any views praising PW Botha.
Kohler Barnard acknowledged that she would have to face disciplinary action.
“This is what happens when anybody does something incredibly stupid like I have done, or makes an error or does it intentionally or whatever,” she said.
Let that be a lesson to us all – let’s think before we post and, if it’s not too much trouble, perhaps read past the opening few lines before we splash tripe like this across the internet.
[source:news24]
