After his teammate Rashard Mendenhall attracted a firestorm of criticism for going on Twitter and saying some questionable things about 9-11 and Osama bin Laden, Steelers safety Ryan Clark went on the radio and said “social media is ruining the world.”
First, here are Mendenhall’s comments about 9-11: “We’ll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style.”
Looks like someone has seen “Loose Change” and been rather impressed with the “findings.”
Then here are his comments about bin Laden’s death and the widespread joy that greeted the news: “What kind of person celebrates death? It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side.”
Needless to say, a lot of people took exception to these opinions. Clark, for his part, put some of the blame on Twitter, which gives everyone the ability to quickly (and sometimes regrettably) share their knee-jerk reactions.
“Facebook and Twitter are probably going to be responsible for more divorces than infidelity coming up here soon,” Clark said. “(Mendenhall) didn’t claim that those opinions were shared by anyone else but himself. That was what he chose to put out there. I knew he was going to catch a lot of flak for it, I knew there was going to be a lot of backlash toward those comments, but he’s entitled to put whatever he wants to put on his Twitter page. The thing you have to know these days, though, if you do put those type of things out there, people are going to comment on them. It’s going to make news. It’s going to be a big deal when you do something that controversial. A long as he can stand by his statements then he’s free to do whatever he wants.”
Well, Mendenhall chose to erase the tweet about a plane being able to take down a skyscraper, but his comment about bin Laden’s death remains on Twitter.
(Source: Pro Football Talk)