Think Before you Tweet

Hey guys! As some of you may be fully aware because of a personal struggle with it, censoring ourselves on a daily basis can be a bit of a chore. Sometimes our thoughts and feelings or a witty little remark just seems to flow out of our mouth without much filter. Many people would say that a constant filter is necessary for all of us in order to live a more respected life, but I feel slightly differently.
There is some spice to life that saying what you feel brings. Dumbing yourself down for the sake of others makes life considerably less exciting and less humorous. However, there is one situation where I feel as though censorship (maybe more like censorship in being more aware of others emotional states) should not only be a suggestion, but a requirement.
Can someone make a big mistake when all they're doing is stating their opinion or crafting a funny statement in response to something? You bet. Kenneth Cole knows this lesson all too well. The fashion designer sent a tweet out into the interwebs a couple of weeks ago that sent a shiver down many readers spines.

Ouch, Kenneth. Now, if I have to be perfectly honest, I've said some things in private conversations with close friends that could have been taken much worse than this little tweet. The difference? My remarks were private and made around only those people who I trusted totally. Cole chose to take a crack at a serious world issue through one of the most public venues in the world. There are some people on Twitter who sit and wait for tweets like this. These people live for the juicy, the mean, and the mistakes. The instant they see something that could potentially be made fun of shamelessly or used against the tweeter, they take a screenshot and post it everywhere they possibly can.

Cole deleted the tweet in the same day that it was posted because of the negative response he began to receive. However, as you can tell by the picture of the tweet above, his words will never totally be gone. Everything and anything you chose to put on the internet has the potential of being around forever. Any word you type, any audio file you record, and any photo you upload are no longer totally yours alone.

I beg of you, think before you tweet. Are you saying something that you would say to a room full of complete strangers? If not, you should probably think again.