Twitter The Graveyard
Party leaders are paid employees. No. Make that human megaphones. They are elected to represent what supporters think is the ideal. It could be:
1. no taxes for the rich
2. $20 an hour minimum wage
3. free books for primary schools
4. cutting down trees to build condominiums
5. supporting oil companies to push whales from their homes to die on the beach
6. reduced immigration from certain countries
7. don’t buy anything made in China (which will leave us wretched and naked).
Political parties have handlers that advise leaders about current headlines, upcoming religious holidays, controversial anniversaries, how to bring back members that defected, how to attack the opposition etc.
Party leaders tend to forget their advisors, who are just a door away. They see something on Twitter and identify it as an opportunity to bash the opposition.
Erin O’Toole, who used to be leader of the Conservative Party of Canada is a case in point. He lost it early February when his caucus voted him out. They were not happy with him for one reason or the other, but his support for truckers that blocked Ottawa in January this year, was his self DELETE.
If he had used in-house advisors, they would alerted him about the pitfalls of any perceived or real support for the minority truckers. Twitter cannot minimize the importance of think before you leap, especially if you represent other people.
By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.
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