I applaud Roger Ebert for standing behind his tweet. If you go to Roger Ebert’s Twitter page and scroll down you’ll see a tweet that reads, “Friends don’t let jackasses drink and drive.”
This has caused a huge uproar with many people saying Roger Ebert’s needs to apologize, many call his tweet distasteful and down right rude.
While I agree with all of those statements, I am also very impressed that he didn’t back down from his words. In a world full of deleted tweets, screencapped in time for everyone to see, this goes to show young rappers, R&B singers and hip-pop entertainers how to stand behind your words.
First off, why are you tweeting things you don’t mean anyway, secondly, this is still America where free speech often comes at a price, but you have to be willing to pay that price in order to keep the very freedom of speech we often take for granted.
Words hurt much more than sticks and stones, but when you drive drunk that also hurts. “Jackass” star Bam Margera, showed his pain via words tweeting, “I just lost my best friend, I have been crying hysterical for a full day and piece of shit roger ebert has the gall to put in his 2 cents about a jackass drunk driving and [he is] one, fuck you!”
While the words I am getting ready to type may also hurt when you read them, it is true. Friends don’t let friends drive drunk!
I lost a cousin to a drunk driver. He was 7 years old. It was Christmas. After a traditional family Christmas movie night his life was taken by a drunk driver who crashed their car and took his life.
What do I say when I look his mother and father in the eye, as they tell me they won’t be attending our Christmas dinner anymore. What do I say when to the drunk person behind the wheel that killed my cousin? I won’t call them a jackass, but my words will hurt.
It’s not drinking and driving that kill people, it’s being drunk and driving that kills people. Sometimes it kills strangers, sometimes it kills 7 year old cousins, and sometimes it kills you. Drunk driving hurts more than 140 characters.
So while I do think Roger Ebert’s tweet was heartless, insenstive and the timing was all off, I do commend him for standing behind his words. Regardless of how harsh they might be. So Bam, be mad at Roger Ebert, but be mad at the friends who let Ryan Dunn get behind the wheel instead of taking his keys, calling him a cab and pissing him off, in order to see him another day.
