From Rudy Giuliani to International Men’s Day – this week’s biggest Twitter storms
As the US president challenges democracy by resisting the results of a legitimate election, and tens of thousands of people continue to die every week in an escalating global pandemic, the world appears to be on fire – and in some areas literally is.
But it isn’t always the most life-altering stories that gets Twitter’s blood communally boiling. From International Men’s Day to Rudy Giuliani’s face, here are five topics that sent social media users into a collective meltdown over the past week.
1. International Men’s Day
Whenever International Women’s Day comes around, furious cries of “When is International Men’s Day?!” inevitably follows from men on Twitter who have no idea there is one (and who are then quickly corrected by comedian Richard Herring).
November 19th. And no, you’ve confused International men’s day with the Handmaid’s Tale https://t.co/2EuPPsF8Rf
— Richard K Herring (@Herring1967) March 8, 2020
Thursday marked the 20th annual “celebration” of men and their contribution to country and family, apparently. Inevitably, the fact there is a men’s day at all has also triggered some annoyance.
“When you live in a patriarchal society, every day is #InternationalMensDay,” one user wrote, alongside a video suggesting they would unfollow anyone posting about the day (Can you unfollow yourself?) Another wrote: “What? Today is #InternationalMensDay ? Wait...wasn't that everyday?”
When you live in a patriarchal society, every day is #InternationalMensDay pic.twitter.com/0OTzobrufa
— Girlboss (@girlboss) November 19, 2020
Even the United Nations managed to court controversy regarding International Men’s Day.
This is ridiculously funny...the UN tries to wish men a happy #InternationalMensDay and they made it all about women.
Imagine I’m trying to wish you a happy birthday and then I end up making it all about myself and the fact that I expect you to prop me up.🙄 pic.twitter.com/DnPAc42cTj— Obianuju Ekeocha (@obianuju) November 20, 2020
2. Fairytale of New York
After BBC Radio 1’s decision to broadcast a censored version of The Pogues song “Fairytale of New York”, omitting the word “f****t” from the lyrics, Twitter predictably exploded with the now almost-monthly row over the intersection of free speech, political correctness, and “political correctness gone mad”.
But the issue really went into overdrive when right-wing activist, and apparent actor, Laurence Fox, called on his Twitter followers to make the unvarnished record go to number one. It culminated in The Pogues themselves calling Mr Fox a “little herrenvolk s***e”.
Fuck off you little herrenvolk shite https://t.co/znPSuhkSo0
— The Pogues (@poguesofficial) November 19, 2020
The Independent has reached out to Mr Fox’s representatives for comment.
3. Rudy Giuliani’s ‘melting’ face
On Thursday Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, gave an exceptionally damaging press conference in which he repeated a litany of false and misleading claims about November’s presidential election.
Despite the flirtation with authoritarianism and his attempt to undermine democracy, the biggest Twitter story to come out of Mr Giuliani’s event were the extraordinary events occurring on his face. The heavily-sweating Giuliani repeatedly wiped his brow as dark brown streaks, probably the result of hair dye, ran down his cheeks.
Opponents exploded with glee.
Borat. Total Landscaping. Hair dye. We’re all witnessing Rudy Giuliani holding a master class in 2020 embarrassing moments. pic.twitter.com/HroMkLkFqE
— pwithm11 (@pwtham11) November 19, 2020
Must be nice for nonphotojournalists to open up their Instagram and see photos of puppies and sunsets... My feed is just 1,000 different angles of Rudy Giuliani’s hair dye sweat as far as the eye can scroll
— Christiana Botic (@ChristianaBotic) November 20, 2020
I can’t stop looking at the dual rivulets of dye running down Rudy Giuliani’s cheeks and thinking, like the Wicked Witch, Trump’s defense along with his presidency is melting.
— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) November 20, 2020
4. Amazon a staunch supporter of Irish nationalism?
Twitter was set ablaze on Monday when Amazon’s customer service account told a Northern Ireland customer they were unable to watch Autumn Nations Cup rugby matches because coverage was “exclusively available to Prime members based in the UK”.
When the customer insisted Northern Ireland was in the UK, Amazon doubled down, accidentally appearing to take sides in the decades-long conflict between unionists and Irish nationalists about the island of Ireland.
“I ordered 32 counties for next day delivery and it is coming up on 100 years of partition. Can I get a refund?” one wag tweeted - receiving the apparently oblivious reply from Amazon: “How can we help you? Let us know.”
Amazon Prime have delivered a United Ireland, and before 6pm on the same day. https://t.co/LF567yffC1
— Dara Ó Briain (@daraobriain) November 14, 2020
Amazon just declared a United Ireland https://t.co/GuotXck0AR
— Owen Jones 🌹 (@OwenJones84) November 14, 2020
Can 2020 get any stranger? #Amazon unintentionally takes a stance on the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. 🤦♂️#UnitedIreland #marketing pic.twitter.com/Wa9S4wREBU
— Paul Malone (@TallPaulNI) November 14, 2020
5. Humanitarian organisation ‘jokes’ about torture
In a gaff surely blamed on the social media intern, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) appeared to tell its followers some torture was OK.
In its own tortuous attempt to join the memes poking fun at Twitter’s recent decision to begin fact checking Mr Trump, the ICRC tweeted, “Torture is legal in some situations", followed by a disclaimer underneath reading, “This claim is disputed by the Geneva conventions”.
A very poorly thought out meme by @ICRC
The mere fact of inviting this for social media debate isn’t a fair game.
Those you seem to be poking fun at don’t dispute that torture is a jus cogens; they dispute the contents (what’s torture or not). Your meme defies that! pic.twitter.com/9e1z9rVRqO— Hᴇɴᴏᴋ G. Gᴀʙɪsᴀ (@henokgabisa) November 18, 2020
Yeah. See what you are doing there. But no. It doesn't work. Irony and humour, even if you don't mean it to be humorous, aren't fitting to the subject matter. You devalue the message through whimsy.
— Iain Overton (@iainoverton) November 18, 2020
Just hours later, the organisatoin rushed out an apology. “To be clear: Torture is banned – absolutely – under international law,” the anti-torture organisation said.
BBC Middle East correspondent Quentin Sommerville summed the week up. “We may have jumped the shark,” he tweeted.
We may have jumped the shark pic.twitter.com/eFJFiCCU6H
— Quentin Sommerville (@sommervilletv) November 18, 2020