Gerry Sandusky and the Twitter Mix-Up

My favorite thing to do on the internet is donation shaming. My second favorite is searching the mentions of a random person who has a similar name to a famous person in the news for bad reasons. One of the greatest moments of my life was watching the Twitter mob descend on Gerry Sandusky.

What Redden420 and his ilk didn't know at the time was Gerry Sandusky has been touching kids for years, sometimes hundreds at a time, with his mouth. He is the radio play-by-play voice of the Baltimore Ravens and provides much needed excitement for people of all ages every football season via the airwaves. While Gerry is perhaps the most public figure to be a victim of this phenomenon, I knew there had to be plenty of other less obvious examples. Somebody has to do God's work, so why not me?

Far be it for me to question someone who has a vocabulary that includes "profligate", which is an actual word. The guy does Haiku. That said, Haiku High may have our Stanford/Yale graduate and upstanding BVP Operating Executive confused with a certain deceased financier and island hopper. Sorry Jeff, we know the only seeds you're spreading are those of innovation via venture capital in sunny California.

According to an internet search I didn't actually perform, there are over 1,000 men named "Dave / David Duke" in the United States, including Providence basketball star David Duke and Adelphi Men's Basketball coach Dave Duke. Somehow, Golfer In Chief tagged neither of them, instead confusing product developer Dave Duke from Port Royal, VA with the KKK leader David Duke. Perhaps the Grand Wizard should have gone into basketball instead of politics? Anyway, how funny is it that the KKK's leadership position is referred to as a "wizard". Maybe if Osama would have gone by Chief Garden Gnome Bin Laden, he'd still be alive.

Fortunately for Dr. Harry Weinstein, he most likely doesn't have a Twitter. He's 89 years old and unlike the monster Brenda has him confused with, Harry actually obtains consent before touching his patients at his internal medicine office in New York. The good doctor is likely retired by now, and hopefully clueless that his name #HarryWeinstein appears hundreds of times via the geniuses of Twitter. With any luck, he'll survive even longer than Harvey.

Do not sent a tweet to Bill Crosby asking him to stop pudding his hands where they don't belong. Having no relation to the disgraced comedian, Mr. Crosby runs an upbeat-themed podcast bringing a positive spin to everyday news. He is a valued member of the community and family man. Incredibly, Bad Bill Cosby actually has his own Twitter account which is still active, meaning Sherwin, AngelOfDeath and others could have directed their ire in the correct place with LESS work (keystrokes). Still, nothing but good intentions - so let's support Crosby's podcast and send the mean tweets to Bad Bill starting....now!

There are countless other examples but hopefully this gives everyone a flavor for the problem. As we trudge forward, try to be gentle when coming across one of these mix-ups. Even though Twitter is a place of nuanced discussion and understanding, we want to carefully avoid drawing negative attention to those who don't deserve it.