Are they having a laugh? Mail suggests people are confusing Gaza for ‘Gazza’
This is a genuine tweet.
Another Mail hoax – or does this one have the ring of truth? You decide:
“Fans of former England footballer Paul Gascoigne, popularly known as ‘Gazza’, were left confused and fearing for his future as a Free Gaza campaign took off online,” according to Mail on Sunday reporter Stephanie Linning.
“Tweets with the hashtag #freegaza have been trending on Twitter in response to the violence in the Middle East, with users using their posts to urge Israeli forces to stop their assault on the Gaza Strip.
“But followers of the troubled player, who has become known for his battles with alcohol and drugs, mistakenly thought that he had been arrested and that the campaign was in support of his freedom.”
Readers who are familiar with the Mail – both Daily and on Sunday – will be aware of its apparent determination to become the nation’s purveyor of bizarre fictional ‘news’, in the wake of the Sunday Sport. Amazingly this story seems to have a basis in reality, as it featured images of tweets sent by real people.
“Confused fans took to Twitter to write messages that used the hashtag #freegaza, while others changed the hashtag to read #freegazza,” the story continued.
“One loyal fan posted on the social network: ‘Didn’t know the great man had been locked up, but I am jumping on the bandwagon #FreeGazza’.
“Others turned to the social network for answers. One user wrote: ‘What has Paul Gascoigne done now has he been arrested #freegaza’.”
Meanwhile, on another social network (Facebook) an altogether better-considered commenter, sharing the story, lamented the fact that “these people have the vote”.
Perhaps that’s why the Tories get elected, and why the Green Party doesn’t…
These people see “Conservative” on the ballot paper and think it says “Conservationist”.
Follow me on Twitter: @MidWalesMike
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Under the dire circumstances, I really cannot believe that anyone is foolish enough to have taken this seriously. Even though the media is of course biased in Israel’s favour, many have seen the sickening pictures, on social media, of babies and children in Gaza hideously mutilated, no one could possibly think it was ‘funny’ to confuse this with a guy called Gazza. I am disgusted!
Someone just replied to my Twitter link, saying: “What an insulting thing to say – people in the UK are better informed we all know Gazza is a thing of the past -Lol.”
… to which another person replied: “Not to the Palestinians it isn’t.”
Clearly that last person has confused Gazza and Gaza. As for whether people at the Mail think it’s funny – we’re discussing the Mail, here! Your guess is as good as anybody’s!
Restrict the vote to those who have attained a reasonable level of education (degree level perhaps) and/or those who have a stake in society (property owners).
Vote restriction only plays into the hands of Tories. Both your options would restrict voting to the rich. The comments about these people having the vote were made humourously.
Elitist voting – back to the Middle Ages…. I hope not .. (tho’ I’d qualify under such a restrictive regime) tho’ I do lament some of the reasons for voting that people have: ‘My Father always voted for them’; ‘I vote Labour cos’ I’m a socialist’, they’ve not noticed ‘New’ in New Labour nor the non-socialst agenda under Blair; ‘I vote Labour cos’ I’m workin class’ – A dieing and almost extinct breed unfortunately, those that know that the working class ‘work’ and that having a van with your name on it doesn’t constitute Nobility. Enough of my cynicism.
Mike, I did not mean to infer that the Mail was being ‘funny’. I, and others know they are perfidious. It was the tweets confusing Gazza with Gaza that upset me. I cannot understand how anyone could have honestly been confused, as they are worlds apart.
And yet, as you can see from what happened to me on Twitter, people are honestly making that mistake.
I blame our schools for failing to teach children how to spell.
Touche!