5 ms·

Its out of control down there! 30 years for a tweet (despite the panic it caused) while drug lords roam around like kings... c'mon people, twitter is not your

Its out of control down there! 30 years for a tweet (despite the panic it caused) while drug lords roam around like kings... c'mon people, twitter is not your primary source of news for potential emergencies of this caliber. But yeah the story is a bit fuzzy on some of the details. eh.

robryan 15y ago
I definitely wouldn't go off a single person that I didn't know personally's Tweets, usually on anything of consequence you would look for multiple confirmations on Twitter and some evidence of the event in other places online.
- petsos 15y ago
  What if you couldn't find any confirmation in 2 minutes of frantic googling and your kids were inside the school?
  - RobertHubert 15y ago
    Id say call the school, another parent, or any other point of contact you could possible imagine before you go smashing up your car in a panic... I never really understood the lapse of social responsibility in these situations. Not to take away from the complete horror at the thought of your child being shot or kidnapped (I could never come close to knowing how that feels) but these are the inherent dangers that come with new technologies (specifically information tech). I mean really though, what are these parents going to do to protect their kids against armed gunmen? We have witnessed the powerful benefit of twitter and FB, etc in assisting communities and families in the aftermath of disaster, but what have these "instant info systems" done to help people mid disaster or to prevent one all together? It's fast, but its not time travel... Id say just keep your reliable sources on check and close at hand. But then again, I cant say I wouldn't go barreling down the street in a panic to make sure my loved one were ok.
  - wnight 15y ago
    Being a movie superhero I'd jump in the car and race down there, leaping into the fray and killing all the terrorists, including the midget pretending to be the cute little girl. Then I'd get a medal, and a pony. You though, lacking superpowers, couldn't help if you were there. So I dunno, maybe you should frantically search until you get positive evidence, and an idea of what you could do to help, before you decide what to do. There are laws to deal with the guy if these was a scheme to profit. If he was deluded there's no reason to take actions, he's no worse than the idiots who ran around because of his rumors. In fact his action was better. By forwarding his news he's inviting conversation and investigation, by running off to the school the terrified parents are actually potentially causing a problem.
Kirchart123 15y ago
Actually is not out of control around here. I live in baja and everything its okay. The USA media is what makes a lot of noise about just the bad news.
gaius 15y ago
Don't fixate on that it was "a tweet". This is the classic shouting fire in a crowded theatre scenario. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shouting_fire_in_a_crowded_theater http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shouting_fire_in_a_crowded_thea...
- jrockway 15y ago
  Actually, it's more like the classic "broadcasting that aliens are invading New Jersey" scenario. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio_drama) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio_dr...
  - iaskwhy 15y ago
    It's almost like that but times have changed. In 1938 it was mainly a broadcast of a message which then wasn't easy to broadcast again by the people. Nowadays you broadcast something and in a couple of minutes it can reach the whole country just because of re-tweets and mobile messages. The end result can be a good number of times worse because of this.
    - jrockway 15y ago
      We had all better stop talking, just in case someone overreacts to something we say. Fiction writers, especially, take note.
      - iaskwhy 15y ago
        Or maybe we should think twice about saying things like "your kids are being killed at school". I am open to suggestions but I have never heard about a book causing mayhem in a couple of minutes.
        jrockway 15y ago
        The reason why is that people don't expect to trust books. Open a random book at the bookstore, and it's probably a story that the author made up. Twitter is the same way, but people don't realize this yet. I don't see why authors should be held responsible for their readers' stupidity, though.
eduardoflores 15y ago
The problem is, as it's mentioned on the article, that living in an information vacuum Twitter gets to be over-trusted. Journalists are reporting very fragmented and incomplete news as Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries to be a journalist. Almost all the mass media have signed a self-censorship agreement ("Iniciativa México") to limit the impact of the narco messages on the public, thus leaving people to follow unreliable media. Messages are sent by narco through actions: murders as gruesome as the desired impact of the message. Read about "blog del narco" through Google translate (I wouldn't recommend to look for the actual blog del narco) http://translate.google.com.mx/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.letraslibres.com%2Fblogs%2Fpolifonia%2Fel-blog-del-narco-la-renuncia-al-periodismo http://translate.google.com.mx/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&#... Yes, we are living hard times here.
- Kirchart123 15y ago
  Where do you live? Im in baja and thinks are not that bad around here ... And iniciativa mexico its not about that, those are people projects, thats all.

robryan 15y ago

I definitely wouldn't go off a single person that I didn't know personally's Tweets, usually on anything of consequence you would look for multiple confirmations on Twitter and some evidence of the event in other places online.

petsos 15y ago
What if you couldn't find any confirmation in 2 minutes of frantic googling and your kids were inside the school?
- RobertHubert 15y ago
  Id say call the school, another parent, or any other point of contact you could possible imagine before you go smashing up your car in a panic... I never really understood the lapse of social responsibility in these situations. Not to take away from the complete horror at the thought of your child being shot or kidnapped (I could never come close to knowing how that feels) but these are the inherent dangers that come with new technologies (specifically information tech). I mean really though, what are these parents going to do to protect their kids against armed gunmen? We have witnessed the powerful benefit of twitter and FB, etc in assisting communities and families in the aftermath of disaster, but what have these "instant info systems" done to help people mid disaster or to prevent one all together? It's fast, but its not time travel... Id say just keep your reliable sources on check and close at hand. But then again, I cant say I wouldn't go barreling down the street in a panic to make sure my loved one were ok.
- wnight 15y ago
  Being a movie superhero I'd jump in the car and race down there, leaping into the fray and killing all the terrorists, including the midget pretending to be the cute little girl. Then I'd get a medal, and a pony. You though, lacking superpowers, couldn't help if you were there. So I dunno, maybe you should frantically search until you get positive evidence, and an idea of what you could do to help, before you decide what to do. There are laws to deal with the guy if these was a scheme to profit. If he was deluded there's no reason to take actions, he's no worse than the idiots who ran around because of his rumors. In fact his action was better. By forwarding his news he's inviting conversation and investigation, by running off to the school the terrified parents are actually potentially causing a problem.

Kirchart123 15y ago

Actually is not out of control around here. I live in baja and everything its okay. The USA media is what makes a lot of noise about just the bad news.

gaius 15y ago

Don't fixate on that it was "a tweet". This is the classic shouting fire in a crowded theatre scenario. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shouting_fire_in_a_crowded_theater http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shouting_fire_in_a_crowded_thea...

jrockway 15y ago
Actually, it's more like the classic "broadcasting that aliens are invading New Jersey" scenario. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio_drama) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio_dr...
- iaskwhy 15y ago
  It's almost like that but times have changed. In 1938 it was mainly a broadcast of a message which then wasn't easy to broadcast again by the people. Nowadays you broadcast something and in a couple of minutes it can reach the whole country just because of re-tweets and mobile messages. The end result can be a good number of times worse because of this.
  - jrockway 15y ago
    We had all better stop talking, just in case someone overreacts to something we say. Fiction writers, especially, take note.
    - iaskwhy 15y ago
      Or maybe we should think twice about saying things like "your kids are being killed at school". I am open to suggestions but I have never heard about a book causing mayhem in a couple of minutes.
      - jrockway 15y ago
        The reason why is that people don't expect to trust books. Open a random book at the bookstore, and it's probably a story that the author made up. Twitter is the same way, but people don't realize this yet. I don't see why authors should be held responsible for their readers' stupidity, though.

eduardoflores 15y ago

The problem is, as it's mentioned on the article, that living in an information vacuum Twitter gets to be over-trusted. Journalists are reporting very fragmented and incomplete news as Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries to be a journalist. Almost all the mass media have signed a self-censorship agreement ("Iniciativa México") to limit the impact of the narco messages on the public, thus leaving people to follow unreliable media. Messages are sent by narco through actions: murders as gruesome as the desired impact of the message. Read about "blog del narco" through Google translate (I wouldn't recommend to look for the actual blog del narco) http://translate.google.com.mx/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.letraslibres.com%2Fblogs%2Fpolifonia%2Fel-blog-del-narco-la-renuncia-al-periodismo http://translate.google.com.mx/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&#... Yes, we are living hard times here.

Kirchart123 15y ago
Where do you live? Im in baja and thinks are not that bad around here ... And iniciativa mexico its not about that, those are people projects, thats all.