Some people are creeps.
On Independence Day, someone — or a group of someones — broke into Fox News’s Twitter account for politics and put out false notices about the death of the United States President. Apparently, they meant this to smear Fox News, which, though calling itself “fair and balanced,” is in truth a conservative counter to the vaguely-to-staunchly leftward bias of ABC/CBS/NBC/CNN/MSNBC. The popularity of Fox really bugs many folks; some become unhinged on the subject.
And they forget that they should obey the law. And principles of decency.
Now, I don’t know what law in particular was broken. I can’t name it. But, just as I need no city council ordinance number to tell a stranger to get out of my house, after he entered without permission (finding the key, perhaps, in its secret spot in the garden — and hey: what was he doing in the garden anyway?), just so no one needs a special law to know that logging in to Twitter and trying a bunch of obvious and not-so-obvious passwords to gain access to someone else’s account is wrong.
We know this by common law and common sense and simple, everyday morality.
I have a simple bit of advice for all political activists. Say you are angry and you want to really hurt your “enemy.”
First ask yourself: Is what I want to do unjust?
Lastly, you might want to consider: Is it tasteless?
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.