ESPN sports and political pundit Keith Olbermann returned from his suspension yesterday. He was removed for four days, due to his insensitive remarks on Twitter regarding Penn State University and their philanthropy. (more on all that here)
His mea culpa opened the show and overall it was a bit…well, you can watch it below and make up your own mind first. See if your impression of it matches my reaction to it.
VIDEO COMMENT: Time for Twitter “Batting Practice” to end. A comment on Twitter – and Pediatric Cancer donations: https://t.co/r3zluxSptv
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) March 2, 2015
Something about it just seemed odd; and it’s difficult to pinpoint what exactly.
Of course, it’s a very uncomfortable situation, all apologies (whether forced or unforced) usually are. I understand his “batting practice” metaphor, but I don’t seem to get what he means about a “batting practice world” that “we all live in.” I’m guessing it relates to Olbermann’s Twitter as a Wild West era saloon fight analogy; a comparison that I wholeheartedly agree with.
There are no standards of decency on Twitter, and it’s pretty obvious now that the microblogging platform is a technology that we weren’t ready to handle.
Mankind is not evolved enough to have a communication technology allowing us to say whatever we want, to whomever we want, anywhere in the entire world, with only a minimal effort and no consequence.
And maybe the consequences are finally starting to occur, and that’s what will finally bring about change. This change will be long overdue. Keith Olbermann and his incessant Twitter battles were a powder keg that’s been lying dormant for a couple years. Penn State just finally lit the spark.
Keith Olbermann is an example of Tweeting having substantial consequence. What Curt Schilling did yesterday to a handful of classless, immoral idiots is another example. As Schilling put it in his blog:
“The Sports Guru”? Ya he’s a DJ named Adam Nagel (DJ is a bit strong since he’s on the air for 1 hour a week) on Brookdale Student Radio at Brookdale Community College. How do you think that place feels about this stud representing their school? You don’t think this isn’t going to be a nice compilation that will show up every single time this idiot is googled the rest of his life? What happens when a potential woman he’s after googles and reads this?
The only thing that will make us more civil to each other on Twitter is if we start suffering consequences for our actions.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital, eBay, Google News and CBS Interactive.
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