Last week, as the Oireachtas communications committee were discussing the dangers of social media, the unlikely star of the show - albeit for all the wrong reasons - turned out to be bumbling Galway Senator, Fidelma Healy Eames. The Senator’s meandering submission went viral, due to such well thought out and insightful comments like:
WHA...? WHAT?
“Take, for example, the form called ‘fraping’, where you’re raped on Facebook. (Cue an entire country cringing as one) Where a youngster has their status open and another person puts a message on there, as if they wrote it. And that message could be, for example, sexual. It goes out into the world as if they said it. This type of thing has to stop. There has to be some controls put in place here.”
There are. It’s called logging out.
“What about sexting? … Now I heard recently that that is a criminal offence.”
Oh Fidelma. It’s one thing to just not really get Facebook, but if you’re making a prepared statement about the irresponsible use of social media, a bit of basic research wouldn’t go astray. She might as well have stood up and began her submission with the words “Well, a little birdie told me…” for all the pearl-clutching sense she made.
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SOME CLASS OF MICROCHIP
The Senator previously showed just how down with technology she is when she stated that there should be “some class of microchip” installed into game consoles that would make them shut down after two hours, while comparing videogames to nicotine addiction. Because MarioKart is EXACTLY as bad for you as huffing down twenty Silk Cut a day.
NORTH KOREA
However, she wasn’t totally alone in embarrassing herself during the committee hearing, as Eamon Coughlan chimed in with the helpful suggestion that IP addresses could be connected to the users passport number or credit card details and that people should have to pay to comment online. Well that sounds reasonable. Oh wait, I forgot we weren't in North Korea.
SPLUTTER
The reaction to the committee hearing has been predictably hilarious, as there’s no comedy fodder quite like a politician making a show of themselves. The messers at Final Boss media put together a brilliant takedown of the Senator’s statement, dissecting each ridiculous sentence with dramatic hilarity and actual common sense.
WATCH THE CAPTIONS
Another equally great response features Miss Panti donning a flawless conservative senatorial wig for a slightly edited version of the hearing, as Fauxdelma Healy Eames. Panti’s furious head bobbing is perfect, but keep an eye on the quickly changing captions, as they’re an inspired piece of comedy in their own right.
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So, what did you make of the whole moral panic kerfuffle and the Senator's thoughts on the matter?
