What to write, where to start…..
Although many people, if placed in my position, would want the events of the 14th and 15th of March to rather be forgotten, I don’t. I would like to explain the exact occurrences, the way the media completely blew it out of proportion and the way that my supposed followers suddenly turned around and threw obscenities towards me, rather than question my motives and reasoning for tweeting what I did. Everyone quickly jumps onto their high horse, jumps the gun, broadcasts their unjustified opinion based on a single tweet which admittedly was sensitive in nature and perhaps incorrectly worded.
It started off by me tweeting that if people wish to help the Red Cross with donations for relief efforts in Japan, they could sms Japan to 47499, and R2 will be deducted from your cellphone account.
Shortly afterwards, I received numerous BlackBerry Messages all containing the same opinion, which said the following “ I see many new profile pics asking to pray for Japan. Go to Google images from your BB and enter; Japan Whales--- see why I find it difficult to pray for a nation that still harpoon Whales and kill over 20 000 dolphins a year! Mother Nature uses weird way to say when enough is enough! Just a thought??? Japan placed more animals on the endangered list than any other nation! They just don’t care!! Difficult to say, but why should you???”
The above is the exact message I got. Being limited to 140 characters on UberSocial, an alternative to Twitter’s BB application, I had to cut out pieces and edit it to try compact it onto one tweet. The reason I do this is to not over fill people’s timelines. The reason I tweeted it however, is I wanted to get people’s opinion as to what they thought about it, if they feel that the whole killing of Whales and Dolphins issues goes out the window when the entire nation is in crisis. Let me state that the above message received on BBM, the tweet I put out, did NOT represent my views. The fact that ANYONE could think that the WHOLE of Japan deserved to get slammed by an earthquake which resulted in a Tsunami, is simply ridiculous and inhumane. When I used the word Karma, I was implying that the fishermen who SLAUGHTER and MURDER the dolphins and whales, got their Karma revenge. Ideally I’d have preferred if a whale came and ate them up rather than an entire country be devastated. This all does not boil down to Karma though. An arbitrary example however, imagine in Zimbabwe, Mugabe and all his murderous followers, lived right by the coast. Now we all know the stories about how he ordered his henchmen to kill and chase away the farmers, to kill innocent voters who were trying to vote for an opposition party, so on and so on. Now picture them being affected by a natural disaster, and Mugabe with all his followers get washed out to sea and drown. What I’d like to know, is would YOU still pray for them? Which brings me to another point…
Why would people say “Pray for Japan”, I do not want to get into religion because we are all so diverse and all have our own beliefs and views, but this is MY blog and within which I can express MY view and MY beliefs and if you have your 5c you’d like to add, I welcome it…. Ok, back to the point. As far as I’m aware, Japanese are generally Atheists. So is it not a slap in the face to claim you’re going to speak to YOUR God to help them? I myself am Catholic and do believe in God, however I am MADLY against people thrusting their religion unto others. Each to his own, believe what you want to believe, and keep it to yourself! Driving down to PE last year, I came across a farm that had all the 10 commandments posted on massive boards amongst his crops. This really upset me. I respect your choice to believe what you want to, but don’t try to change what I believe. Moving swiftly along….
Now the beef I have with the media….. Very quickly they, being one specific “DJ”, jumped to the opinion that THAT is my belief that Japan “Deserved what they got” (Which is utter rubbish), within a couple minutes I was getting HATE tweets left, right and center. I wasn’t even given time to respond or make it clear I was looking for an opinion. I had supposedly “friend” followers who turned on me, the “DJ” who was filling in for another DJ, jumping on the air and broadcasting it LIVE. Truth be told, I don’t know WHAT it is that she said, but suddenly people who weren’t even following me started throwing threats my way. I can handle it, but it did hurt how quickly people turn around with venom, without giving you a chance to explain. Disgusting, in my opinion, was how the “DJ” called me a twat, and then when I turn around and say “If you cannot have an adult discussion/debate, then sit down and shut up”, I get a message from some dude saying that’s no way to speak to a lady. A lady? She called me a twat. Where’s the equality? Do unto others as you’d have done unto you. Right? I’m sorry, but if you disrespect me, I disrespect you. Fair is fair. To top it all off she sent this tweet:
“I've got DM's from @pigspotter but because he doesn't follow me I can't DM him back. Let's chat publicly. I'm not scared - got balls! You?”
Now, we all know I’ve got the proverbial “balls”, otherwise I wouldn’t do what I do, I’d have disappeared like PigSpotterKZN when he heard the heat that was coming down on me. So feeling as though I did NOT have to prove myself to the “DJ” I simply said she is not worth my time. She then suggested we wait for the proper DJ of the show to return and then go on air… I agreed to that. Then the “DJ” responded saying, “ but it’s my opinions, not DJ Fresh’s.”
Later that night, well, the following morning at 1:30am I chatted to DJ Nicole, @ThatNicole on twitter, and was able to get my point out to the listeners who would tune into the radio at that time, and it was suggested that I chat to the “DJ” the following day…. So I DMed the “DJ” my cell number and said I’ll chat to her at 4pm the following day. She never replied. Via the grapevine, I get an e-mail, 2 hours before the show, stating that she would not be interviewing me and would leave out my name as professional courtesy… Professional courtesy???? Was it professional to slander my name to the MILLIONS of listeners the REAL DJ has attained over the time he has been on air? I think NOT. So by the “DJ” cancelling the interview, I simply laughed when I remember the “ I'm not scared - got balls! You?” tweet….. so I guess you just don’t have the “balls” do you sweetheart? Well, you definitely didn’t have the “balls” to even phone me to cancel…..tsk tsk tsk.
I get an e-mail the following day from the “DJ” saying,
“after getting a couple of nasty tweets from your fans, i responded to a tweet saying "@PigSpotter said we shouldn't pray for the Japanese cause of what they do to the whales/dolphins and I basically said he's a twat" I apologise for writing that, i was angry at that point, but I never said on air that you were a twat.”
I replied that the apology was accepted…. However the public damage to my reputation on that day to several “people in the right places”, was and is still an issue for me. There were nasty words received by both of us from the other’s followers and all in all an unpleasant experience. I’m happy to put it behind me and as a professional courtesy I will not mention the “DJ”’s name, I wouldn’t want to hurt Catherine’s feelings further.
I’m sorry this blog was extremely long winded but I had a bit to get out. Hope you all now have the facts straight and there is no more confusion or conflicts about what was said. As ALWAYS, comments are welcome, I read every single one and will respond if you leave an e-mail address. I enjoy debate, from debate we can learn so much about what everyone else is thinking and gain new perspectives and ideas….keep it flowing.
All the best and stay safe
Cliff
14 comments:
People like to feel righteous and will be screaming "kill the bull" the 1 day and then the "bull" falls into a mineshaft the next day and then it is all "poor bull let's care and save it!" Which I feel is a load of BULL!
I'm with you on the "pray for Japan" and still people again just want to feel that they are doing their part.
As for the dolphin and whale killers they SUCK ASS! And KARMA will one day come their way.
As for the "DJ" shame if you don't have many fans or followers you maar do what it takes to make ratings?
As for you: I still like you still believe in your cause and still think that you shouldn't worry about it. TRUE friends and followers will stick with you ALL THE WAY!
YOU ROCK ;-)
Right on partner!
Still behind you 100%
I understand if you wanted to post that bbm to get an opinion but then surely you would first say "this next tweet is not my point of view, I would just like your opinion". Also is the pig spotter account the right place to ask such things? People follow pig spotter to hear about speeding traps, not to read bbm's and give opinions. Rather create a personal twitter profile to air your personal tweets. With regards to the DJ what you don't realise is that she actually produces the show, any content the main DJ talks about is content she has given him and therefore she can speak about whatever content she pleases, whether the main DJ is there or not.
Religions in Japan : Buddist and Shinto.
Have you ever been to Japan?
I just have one suggestion to some of the people who had a lot to say to you re: the tweet. WATCH "THE COVE". Yes not all the japanese were involved in killing up to 23000 dolphins a year, but Taiji is responsible for all 23000 dolphins killed in the cove. I was in hysterical tears last night as I watched it! What they choose to ignore, is that dolphin meat is not safe for human consumption, I can't remember the measurement for mercury containing meat but the number was 0.49 for safe to eat, and no higher! Dolphin meat, 2000!!! They were selling it in the market as, whale meat!
Taiji wasn't affect by the earthquake, but was by the tsunami. It washed away the nets used to catch and trap the dolphins but it didn't wash away the cove!!
You're a legend.
Harry Potter darling, last time I checked we didn't pay Pigspotter to update us on speedtraps. Therefore, I think that Cliff can tweet about whatever the hell he wants as Pigspotter. If you don't like it, "unfollow" takes a couple of seconds - each to his own.
After a quick search dolphin meat contains too much mercuary for human consumption. The whaling in Japan is legal and governed by the IWC. Although the IWC is pushing for a decrease in Japanese whaling, as well as pushing for no-lethal study methods. Since under IWC protocols whaling is only permitted for scientific research. The meat not used in the research may then be commercially sold.
Also a major thing to note is the cultural differences between western and eastern societies. Living in SA cultural diversity is nothing new to us. And the consumption of whale is part their culture. Much like the consumption of beef is part of ours, also cows produce a lot methane which is the second largest component of greenhouse gasses. So should we have 'karmic' retribution for eating beef?
As pointed out prior Japan's major religeons are Buhddist and Shinto, so saying pray for Japan is not a cultural insult since they believe in deities. Following that, a great deal of my friends are athiests and they still used the #pray4japan tag on twitter. I believe that even people who don't believe in a deity could use it to show solidarity with the people of Japan.
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On a personal note I think you have done some great work with the PigSpotter idea. It both makes people aware and drive safer, as well as exposes the corruption in SA. Though you might want to use some way of showing that you want feedback on an idea when you post a tweet. Personally if there is something I can't fully say on twitter I just post on my blog and then post that on twitter
Peace
Nice one! Still with you bud (tjohnsonuk)
Dear: Anonymous said...
Religions in Japan : Buddist and Shinto.
Have you ever been to Japan?
March 21, 2011 6:38 AM
Just because a google search of "Religions in Japan" comes up with the answer Buddist and Shinto, this does not reflect that a vast majority of Japanese have their own beliefs and in this case, athiests are in fact more predominant than Buddist and Shinto. I have lived in Japan for 3 years, so i base my knowledge on experience.... have you ever been?
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PigSpotter, thank you for all the amazing updates and services you provide out of your own free time to help us out. We know you do not get and financial reward for what you do, but I really think that needs to change. You have made life a LOT safer for my family and friends. Thank you! You really are special.
Respect
Mr Choo
It's very sad what happened in Japan. It's very sad what happens to whales and dolphins, but the bigger picture is being missed... natural disasters happen. Always have always will. Live in southern Africa if you want to avoid them. But what we are doing is going to end the human race much sooner than disasters ever would... over population is the biggest problem we face, we do NOT have the resources for our incessant growth. It's difficult to say, but the most humane thing we could do now, would be mass genocide. We need roughly 3-4 billion people to die soon. That might preserve humanity, otherwise I'm afraid we are rather screwed. PEACE.
Question: If SA had to have an earthquake and all the white people were killed, would this be just etc. as we were oppressors for so long via Apartheid.
I think not.
Dude you have taken a great idea and made it sensational, as said above I fear your slipup was to perhaps not mention that you were looking for comment on your tweet.
Either way however people’s reactions were def over the top, I was in fact listening at the time said DJ blasted you on air and in true journalistic style said DJ should certainly have gotten the full story first, but hey sensation sells!
As for not tweeting solely about P.I.G's, if I am not mistaken it is your prerogative.
Remember people we are all killing our fragile earth, but we all forget that we are all human and all brothers and sisters.
Stand together, peace!
@toothbrushsa
I hate politics - whether it be in the true sense of the word or in the way we have adopted the word to refer to stupid, nonsensical, egotistical battles. A discussion or a debate is one thing, but to attack people's characters is another. Who gave me the right to judge? Who gave me the right to think that my opinion (and we are ALL entitled to opinions) is the only correct one? In my opinion we should fall into only two categories - a) Peace keeper - a person who shuts up and minds his own business, rarely causes strife and is happy to keep his opinion to himself for the sake of peace. or b) Peace makers - a person who voices his opinion but his motive is to make peace. His motive is not to tear apart other people or bring disrepute or shame. His motive is to bring clarity in a 'gentlemanly' way and to put aside personal agenda's. As I said, who am I to judge and I am not prepared to do so. I just know that to have a passion to love people rather than to abuse them through our words (or in any way for that matter), would make for a better world.
And in saying "gentlemanly" - I do not refer to gender. It applies to us all - especially to those broadcasting over the radio!
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