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For Shame, Twitter
Update: The Real David Hogg is back. I just read this tweet from him, which was posted at 7 PM EDT:
I’m back! They reinstated my account just a little while ago, even though Twitter said it ‘would not be restored.’ Thank you to everyone that helped clear this mess up! I’ve been very clear from the beginning that I am not THAT David Hogg.
Original Post
Twitter has struck again. David Hogg, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School survived the Parkland, Florida, school shooting. He thrust himself in front of microphones and camera lenses to push for gun control and advocate for other causes. There are questionable people who did not like his message and sought to cause him grief or misfortune.
Enter the Real David Hogg, a North Carolina former high school student who is approximately one year younger. He appears to be a remarkable young man. He works sometimes for pay and sometimes for the heart by mowing lawns, babysitting, etc. He also greatly respects and admires our veterans. Toward that end, he has done volunteer work for veterans. He organized his own small fundraisers for them and for other causes. His younger brother, Jake, even got in on it by making hot pads in red, white, and blue and they would send a pair of hot pads to those that donated. Amidst all that work, David has maintained a grade average higher than 4.0.
David coordinated most of this activity via Twitter as the Real David Hogg.
This past week, the Real David Hogg put together an Amazon wishlist of items he wanted to give to veterans. Most of the items were needful things, but one item was a bit more on the convenience side. It is an inexpensive desk lamp with a touch base. David wrote that he has a couple of them and he really likes them. He said he would like to present veterans with one. He offered a pair of Jake’s hot pads if someone ordered 5. Thanks to God, my life has recently been blessed with some improvements, so I thought now was a good time to finally help others out. I bought the five lamps on Monday, they were delivered on Wednesday, and Jake’s hot pads arrived yesterday. I presented those hot pads to my 78-year-old father and he really liked them. Due to my disabilities (with which I was born), my Dad does most of our cooking.
I had a nice conversation with David via Twitter’s direct-messaging system. He always called me Mr. Ric.
Sadly, those questionable people who wanted to cause mischief for the other David Hogg didn’t try very hard to verify which David Hogg they had found on Twitter and instead sent their malicious messages to the Real David Hogg. The unintentional side effect was that the Real David Hogg continued to gain followers on Twitter.
Some people kept claiming that the Real David Hogg was pretending to be the other David Hogg. I guess they thought he was attempting to siphon off followers from the other one.
I woke up today to find that Traci Hogg, David’s mother was now following me on Twitter. I thought that was curious, so I followed her back and read her recent tweets and found this (now-pinned) tweet:
Help! David Hogg, yes, the REAL David Hogg @realdavidhogg, has been suspended for ‘impersonating’ @davidhogg111. Of course this is a mistake & David wrote Twitter. Below is their response. David is very upset. Can you help? @jack he sent lots of news articles/videos as proof!
[Refer to linked tweet to see the rather large screenshot she posted. -Ric]
The content between the two David Hoggs’ Twitter accounts could not be more different. Only their names and ages are similar.
I didn’t mention it, yet, but the Real David Hogg of North Carolina is a conservative who is for the 2nd amendment. I can no longer access my direct message exchange with him.
Â
Published in General
The cached version of realdavidhogg’s twitter page highlights that he was not impersonating the pencil-necked piece of garbage.
There is something broadly unhealthy about our obsession with celebrity. Twitter, unfortunately, caters to and feeds that obsession. I left Twitter in 2008, and have never regretted it.
This is where being a dreaded luddite is useful. I was browbeaten into facebook and quit it 3 years ago, but I never did Twitter.
Rush Limbaugh likes to call the Florida guy “Camera Hogg”. Â Rush has millions of followers. Â I am going to send him a PM through my 24/7 account and see what he has to say about this.
I am in the middle of an email to Rush, and I have quoted from Ric’s post, ONLY descriptive information about the Real David Hogg, and nothing personal or identifiable about Ric.
Real David Hogg needs to get a lawyer – fast . . .
So you now have the choice of 69 different pronouns on Social media but not the right to post under your own name? Perhaps they will suspend Real Donald Trump next under the same pretenses. Â
Wait. Did I say something that could get me in trouble? lol
Names are tricky things. They can be your bread and butter or a nightmare. That’s why the acting guilds have have long run a registry for names. The actor Stewart Granger was born with the moniker “James Stewart.” That wasn’t going to fly. One of the Hoggs is either going to have to embrace their middle name or middle initial.Â
Thank you for this. It’s much appreciated. The whole intent of my post is to get the word out.
I hate Twitter.
However, @davidhogg exists and is an elderly limey. https://twitter.com/Davidhogg
And there are others, including at least one fake.
I think Twitter’s end game is to give @realdavidhogg to Camera Hogg.
Ric, there are a considerable number of Ricochet members who do not want the fact that they are members to be widely known. Â They use screen names, and ask that their pictures not be included in posts, like a meetup post. Â I have gotten religion, so to speak, and never reference personally-identifiable information if it’s not wanted. Â If this post should be promoted to the Main Feed, the public will be able to see it. Â I know that Rush and his staff are very smart when it comes to personal info, but I didn’t want them to be able to contact you without your permission. Â I do think that the information in this post is very important, and if Rush mentions it on his show, the word will travel VERY quickly. Â Mention on his show has been known to crash web sites and cause phones to ring off the hook.
Understood. Thank you for your explanation and your due diligence.
I’ve updated my profile. Feel free to continue to refer to me as Ric.
Walter E. Williams uses his middle initial because apparantly there is a another black economics professor named Walter Williams who is liberal . . .
Kevin D. Williamson said in a recent column that he uses his middle initial to try to reduce confusion with a screenwriter named Kevin Williamson.
In my first round of self-employment (25 years ago) I couldn’t get a dot-com domain name of my first name last name because a winery was already using it. I use my middle initial a lot as part of keeping a distinct identity.
First suspend, then investigate?
Yes. Media has learned that being first is more important than being correct.Â
There’s also an author named Peter Robinson . . .