A publicity tweet about an extensive 133-page report on the rights to free speech and peaceful assembly, published by US-based NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), has descended into a barrage of name-calling and insults on Twitter.
The exchange is between HRW deputy Asia director and a troll Facebook page, SMRT Feedback.
Tweet to publicise 133-page human rights report on Singapore
“Killing the Chicken to Scare the Monkeys.” New @hrw report documents #Singapore’s use of laws and regulations to punish alternative views and foster culture of self-censorship. https://t.co/eqQNO76bd9 #HRW #PAP #JolovanWham pic.twitter.com/DSkxS662Pq
— Phil Robertson (@Reaproy) December 13, 2017
On Dec. 13, HRW published its first report on Singapore in 12 years and examined how the laws and regulations in Singapore had been used to limit individual rights to speech and assembly.
The report drew on interviews with 34 activists, journalists, lawyers, academics and opposition politicians and provided 60 recommendations, calling for the repeal of restrictions on the rights to speech and assembly.
"Monkey", "Frog", "Colonialist"
Enter SMRT Feedback, which appeared to argue that Singaporeans are unwilling to trade safety and security for the anarchy of unrestricted freedom of expression.
It then proceeded to insult the report's spokesperson Phil Robertson, by calling him an "ignorant monkey".
Undeterred by the insult, Robertson proceeded to highlight examples of safe cities such as Boston, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and New York, before calling SMRT Feedback a "frog".
SMRT Feedback then step up the insults by calling Robertson a "colonialist".
By then, Robertson was probably ready to move on and asked SMRT Feedback to just shut up.
And SMRT Feedback just didn't want to shut up.
Robertson then tagged Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President Donald Trump.
Nope, they didn't respond.
The two-day tweet fight then went on for way too long for anyone to care anymore.
[related_story]
But life's really tough if you need to retweet an online influencer's remarks.
Sad.
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