Twitter reaction to Nenshi's "off your meds" tweet
Before the mayor tapped the words "off your meds" into his iPhone, he likely knew it would do little good to engage with someone who was antagonizing him. In fact, he began that tweet with the words "I know I should not bother."
- The mayor should not have bothered, as those three words have led to criticism of his lack of respect for people with mental illness. Below, the tweets that were sent before and after the mayor's outburst, including an accusation by Werner Patels that Nenshi's sister was promoting "radical Islamism."
- Nenshi responded to a Tweet from Patels that linked to a Calgary Sun article about Occupy Calgary, with Patels calling the situation a "disgrace." The tweet appears to have been deleted, but was archived here. Nenshi responded, kicking off the discussion.
@WernerPatels so, "righties" believe in small government, except when government should be used on those they disagree with. Got it.- @WernerPatels I know I should not bother when you're off your meds, but I love how freedom of speech is now an extreme lefty issue.
- @WernerPatels And learn something about Muslims. You had her advocating for a sect to which we do not belong.
- There are some more tweets in the discussion, which you can view here. After Nenshi disengaged from the conversation, he joked that it was a good distraction from preparing for Monday's council meeting:
- @stribe39 @libartsandminds @sophieanneb bah. Saturday afternoon and I need a distraction from the giant council agenda I'm reading... :-)
- Nenshi apologized during a break in today's city council meeting for choosing those words, telling the Calgary Herald, “part of the world I live in is I am who I am, and there’s certain authenticity and when people engage with me on Twitter, that’s what they get.
- Reaction has been mixed on Twitter, with plenty of people shocked or upset at the word choice and others saying Nenshi was right to bite back, even though the words he chose were not ideal:
Lay off @Nenshi! bit.ly/w0QOV7 If we want him to engage with voters, then he's allowed to throw an elbow occasionally.
@colbycosh It's harmful because @nenshi was stigmatizing those of us w mental illness
This is exactly why I said Mayor Nenshi should ignore attention seekers like Patels. It benefits him. RT @natn… (cont) deck.ly/~ldLFc
Say What! #Calgary Mayor Nenshi can do wrong! Nenshi knocked for 'off meds' Twitter comment bit.ly/tiuDoj
Yeah, maybe not the most politically correct thing @nenshi has said...but I feel like this is a bit much. calgaryherald.com/health/Mayor+N…
