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| A Twitter warning for Donald Trump: the retweet defence is no defence at all | A Twitter warning for Donald Trump: the retweet defence is no defence at all |
| (about 2 months later) | |
| Donald Trump has been tying himself in knots over an image of Hillary Clinton – featuring the words “Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!” inside a six-pointed star, superimposed on a pile of $100 bills – that he posted on Twitter over the weekend. Blaming the “dishonest media” for deliberate misinterpretation, he insisted the star was not a star of David, as some had claimed, but a “sheriff’s star, or plain star”. | Donald Trump has been tying himself in knots over an image of Hillary Clinton – featuring the words “Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!” inside a six-pointed star, superimposed on a pile of $100 bills – that he posted on Twitter over the weekend. Blaming the “dishonest media” for deliberate misinterpretation, he insisted the star was not a star of David, as some had claimed, but a “sheriff’s star, or plain star”. |
| His defence was slightly undermined by the fact that, by then, he’d already deleted and re-posted the image with the star replaced by a circle, and because the original graphic came from a neo-Nazi message board. | His defence was slightly undermined by the fact that, by then, he’d already deleted and re-posted the image with the star replaced by a circle, and because the original graphic came from a neo-Nazi message board. |
| The problem is one of attribution rather than interpretation. The Trump campaign say they appropriated the image from an ordinary Clinton-hating Twitter user, but it’s difficult to maintain that a graphic isn’t remotely antisemitic once you know it was created by an antisemite. Trump, of course, has done this sort of thing before: last November he posted an illustration of crime statistics that turned out to be both racist in origin and totally untrue. “I didn’t tweet,” he said afterwards. “I retweeted.” As if it didn’t matter where it came from. | The problem is one of attribution rather than interpretation. The Trump campaign say they appropriated the image from an ordinary Clinton-hating Twitter user, but it’s difficult to maintain that a graphic isn’t remotely antisemitic once you know it was created by an antisemite. Trump, of course, has done this sort of thing before: last November he posted an illustration of crime statistics that turned out to be both racist in origin and totally untrue. “I didn’t tweet,” he said afterwards. “I retweeted.” As if it didn’t matter where it came from. |
| It’s a deeply Trumpian defence, although other politicians use it when similarly caught out: I’m not racist myself, I do occasionally retweet racist things – you know, for balance. The old mealy-mouthed disclaimer that a retweet necessarily isn’t an endorsement no longer holds much sway – we all know when it does and when it doesn’t. | It’s a deeply Trumpian defence, although other politicians use it when similarly caught out: I’m not racist myself, I do occasionally retweet racist things – you know, for balance. The old mealy-mouthed disclaimer that a retweet necessarily isn’t an endorsement no longer holds much sway – we all know when it does and when it doesn’t. |
| Here’s a handy rule for any politician negotiating the turbulent tides of social media: if something you’re thinking of retweeting seems possibly a bit racist, it probably is; if it doesn’t strike you as remotely racist, but turns out to have been made by racists for racists, then you’re probably a bit racist. | Here’s a handy rule for any politician negotiating the turbulent tides of social media: if something you’re thinking of retweeting seems possibly a bit racist, it probably is; if it doesn’t strike you as remotely racist, but turns out to have been made by racists for racists, then you’re probably a bit racist. |
| T-shirts in translation | T-shirts in translation |
| Problems of appropriation and attribution happened even before social media came along. The Trump tweet reminded of another story from 2007, about a T-shirt. Back then Burton’s menswear was selling a £12 shirt featuring a graphic of a double-headed eagle encircled by Cyrillic writing. It looked like a cool logo from a Soviet-era cigarette packet. Unfortunately the writing, when translated, turned out to say, “We will cleanse Russia of all non-Russians”. | Problems of appropriation and attribution happened even before social media came along. The Trump tweet reminded of another story from 2007, about a T-shirt. Back then Burton’s menswear was selling a £12 shirt featuring a graphic of a double-headed eagle encircled by Cyrillic writing. It looked like a cool logo from a Soviet-era cigarette packet. Unfortunately the writing, when translated, turned out to say, “We will cleanse Russia of all non-Russians”. |
| I contacted Burton’s PR department to see if they were on board with the sentiment. They weren’t, obviously. They’d been misled, the PR person told me, and had been under the impression the slogan was just something vaguely patriotic. Once they’d discovered the problem earlier that week, they’d withdrawn the shirts from sale. I told her I’d just bought one from their website. She said she’d call me right back. | I contacted Burton’s PR department to see if they were on board with the sentiment. They weren’t, obviously. They’d been misled, the PR person told me, and had been under the impression the slogan was just something vaguely patriotic. Once they’d discovered the problem earlier that week, they’d withdrawn the shirts from sale. I told her I’d just bought one from their website. She said she’d call me right back. |
| Sir Philip Green made it sound as if he wanted to cleanse the Guardian of all non-stories | Sir Philip Green made it sound as if he wanted to cleanse the Guardian of all non-stories |
| An hour later my phone rang, but it wasn’t the PR department. It was Sir Philip Green, chairman of Arcadia Group. He told me, in no uncertain terms, that he thought I was making way too big a deal out of this T-shirt thing, and accused me of deliberate mischief-making and un-highmindedness. He made it sound as if he wanted to cleanse the Guardian of all non-stories. I’m afraid I missed my chance to ask whether he thought his company had a responsibility to check the source – not to mention the nature – of the material it was appropriating for fashion purposes. I was too busy thinking, “Holy shit! Philip Green has my home phone number!” | An hour later my phone rang, but it wasn’t the PR department. It was Sir Philip Green, chairman of Arcadia Group. He told me, in no uncertain terms, that he thought I was making way too big a deal out of this T-shirt thing, and accused me of deliberate mischief-making and un-highmindedness. He made it sound as if he wanted to cleanse the Guardian of all non-stories. I’m afraid I missed my chance to ask whether he thought his company had a responsibility to check the source – not to mention the nature – of the material it was appropriating for fashion purposes. I was too busy thinking, “Holy shit! Philip Green has my home phone number!” |
| Criminal designs | Criminal designs |
| At the time neither he nor I knew the actual source of the T-shirt design. It was only a few days later that a friend of mine realised she’d seen it before, in a book called Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume 1. I found a copy of the book and there it was – the exact image, taken from the skin of a Russian convict. Below the picture, a caption helpfully translated the Cyrillic into English. | At the time neither he nor I knew the actual source of the T-shirt design. It was only a few days later that a friend of mine realised she’d seen it before, in a book called Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume 1. I found a copy of the book and there it was – the exact image, taken from the skin of a Russian convict. Below the picture, a caption helpfully translated the Cyrillic into English. |
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