Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
"Haringey man laughs off twitter trolls that set up parody account"
SOMEONE may have thought they were helping Haringey Council by creating a Twitter account that is an attempt at parody of a noted Council critic, Tottenham's Mr. Martin Ball.
According to this article in the Tottenham & Wood Green Independent, the Council have denied that anyone within the Authority has set up the account and Mr. Ball has said whoever set it up should "get a life".
Mr. Ball is unaligned politically.
It's said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
All that "MoanyMartin_N17" has achieved is to direct more attention to the real Mr. Martin Ball, who tweets under the moniker, @martinballN17.
Under a more generous and enlightened administration, Mr. Ball will be presented with a letter of grateful thanks by the Local Authority for the amount of work he has done in and for the community.
CDC
Haringey Councillor
Liberal Democrat Party
Tags for Forum Posts: Martin Ball, Twitter, parody, spoof, troll
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Following someone on Twitter isn't a sign of approval or disapproval. When I was working I followed all the political parties and a number of think tanks I detested so I could find out what they were up to.
If you were to look at politicians Twitter accounts I would imagine that they they follow tons of people for exactly the same reason
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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I'm not sure I can agree. Following a political party/ individual that doesn't match your views isn't the same as following a parody account. Opposite views can still be instructive. Unless you're Donald Trump or Rupert Murdoch with skins like elephant hide, a parody can be very hurtful. They are designed to humiliate and ridicule with the aim I imagine of making the target feel uncomfortable and shut them down. Martin may be a tougher nut to crack but local political types have form for this kind of online behaviour. They certainly find it amusing and perhaps even useful in their form of tribalism.
Claire Kober is the leader of the council, Jason Arthur leads on libraries (Marcus Garvey anyone?), Joe Goldberg is effectively Claire's second in command. Peray Ahmet is a Noel Park cllr. Should they follow this account? They perhaps need to explain why they choose to.
Notably our own Cllr Emine condemned the account and the attempt to humiliate, Stuart McNamara who is often in Martin's sights doesn't follow. The parody account followed me, I didn't follow back. Why? Because I do believe a follow is condoning. I also believe that those who did follow also condone this.
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Liz, as well as these Cllrs signing up to follow accounts, I imagine their political assistants also manage their Twitter accounts for them. I looked at Claire Kober's account she follows over 2,300 individuals and organisations. I doubt she does that on her tod. But I'm under no illusion that some of the followers are following for anything but a sense of schadenfreude (if that's the correct term in deriving pleasure from the discomfort of others)
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So do I. It's more than possible. She definitely does access her own account as I've had conversations with her on it. So does Joe Goldberg and Jason Arthur. But giving her the benefit of the doubt, if one of her minions has done it then she needs to instruct them to unfollow as it doesn't reflect well on her. Suffice to say, I know from personal experience that Claire Kober is very relaxed about this kind of behaviour by her allies.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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You only think that because everyone thinks it's you! :)
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Can't be you - you didn't put an apostrophe in "wasn't"
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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Liz, I agree with the points you make. Following doesn't necessarily mean endorsement (I'm quite Catholic in taste and follow a wide range of accounts).
While I enjoy genuine parody, I think it was wrong for the MoanyMartin account to use a photo of the real Martin without his permission and for the sole purpose of mocking him. I suspect Mr. Ball may be flattered by the attention of the fake account and take it as a sign that his tweets are hitting home.
Though the Members of Cabinet may well have assistants who follow on their behalf, it is no accident the names are associated. If the Council Leader (or another on their behalf) follows a "spoof" account, it is a signal to their own Twitter followers that it's okay to follow in turn. Some of the most obedient have done so.
It's a credit to Cllr. McNamara not to have taken part in this nonsense and also to Cllr. Ibrahim to have questioned (by Tweet) the lack of humour of the "spoof" account.
Sadly, sly attempts to undermine any critic of this Council, are one of it's hallmarks (I don't imagine for a moment the account was begun by a Council employee).
Meanwhile rubbish collection in our Borough is creaking at the seams.
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Permalink Reply by matthew cuthbert on
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This is the Leader of the council and a cabinet member, they represent us, the council and the Labour Party, and have a certain conduct to adhere to in their official roles, are they so busy that they don't control their own twitter accounts?
I'm am disappointed for everyone.
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I note that currently – as well as the 7 (seven) elected Members of the Council Majority Group who Follow a "spoof" Twitter account that mocks a resident – a further two who choose to Follow, are senior officers of Haringey Council.
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Mind you, if it does anything it probably accurately reflects how the politicians perceived us when we got up to speak at Area Forums.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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If you were a busy Councillor / Council official / politician, would you bother to casually click on a message from someone you don't know calling himself " MoanyMartin " ?
Life is too short.
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This is not the first time remember Harringay Offload, someone needs to complain about the misuse of resources to ridicule the public. Didn't someone get sacked over the van driver tweet, during the election.
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