INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- A school board member in Hillary Clinton's hometown resigned after making a derogatory reference on Twitter to the female anatomy in describing women marching against President Donald Trump. An Illinois teacher was pulled from the classroom for tweets deemed sexist. And a freshman Indiana lawmaker was inundated with criticism over a Facebook post mocking "fat women."
These are a handful of examples from across the U.S. of mostly male public officials who have been reprimanded, called out or disciplined over social media postings about the women's marches around the globe last weekend.
The rash of incidents, which range from boorish to downright vulgar, highlight how nasty political discourse has become since the divisive presidential election. But in an era when Trump made lashing out against "political correctness" central to his appeal, the consequences these officials face for unfiltered use of social media once again demonstrate that what you say on the internet still can hurt you.
Still, the number of incidents following the women's marches, which packed public squares in blue states and some red as well, has put a few elected officials and supervisors in an awkward spot. And it's not clear where to draw the line.
In Indiana, Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma says he's conducting social media tutorials after posts from at least two state lawmakers.
A weekend Facebook post by Indiana state Rep. Jim Lucas, a Republican, showed a photo of a woman sprayed in the face with pepper spray with a caption that read: "PARTICIPATION TROPHIES. NOW IN LIQUID FORM."
Another post by newly elected Indiana state Sen. Jack Sandlin, also a Republican, credited Donald Trump with getting "more fat women out walking than (former first lady) Michelle Obama did in 8 years."
Sandlin, who says he didn't knowingly make the since-deleted post, was inundated with criticism on his Facebook page and has apologized. He says the incident was a powerful lesson on the "unintended consequences" of opening up "your social media to try to get it out as broadly as you can."
Bosma partially blamed "the Twitter storm created by our president" which he said "makes people feel this is an appropriate vehicle to communicate." He added: "We're elected officials, we're held to a higher standard."
Cornfield, the political science professor, said that he thought most people learned the lesson about crossing the line in social media posts years ago during the early days of email.
"I guess now that we've elected the real Donald Trump some people need reminders," he said.
Holy fuck. I don't even know what to say. That's fucking terrifying.
So threats of (seemingly?) martial law, the wall, false allegations of the biggest voter fraud in modern political history.... what else am I missing?
First week.
I don't know how to respond to this anymore. I feel stupid just sitting at my laptop reading all of this crazy shit.
It's going downhill.Donald J. Trump
45m45 minutes ago
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!
Come on folks, they've been warning us about martial law for 8 years.
And it's the left that shuts down discussion, listen to iron horse, banning the EPA from posting is freeing the internet to more alt-facts.
Right, iron horse?
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He's now threatening to invade Chicago.
Seriously.
I don't mind Orwell, but the constant mentioning of him whenever anything happens has become so cliched over the years.
Rumors that Trump is going to enact his (unconstitutional) ban on Muslim immigrants via executive order in the next few days.
Combatting cliches is definitely our most urgent priority. Damn, you're tiring.
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I don't mind Orwell, but the constant mentioning of him whenever anything happens has become so cliched over the years.
He's not nuking Chicago, jeez.
If he even does anything at all, he's going to send in DOJ and FBI agents to stir up shit, waste everyone's time and money and do nothing to address the complex socioeconomic issues of the city.
I usually try to avoid comparing real life political figures to 1984, Hitler, et cetera, because it's typically rather exaggerated (though I have a soft spot for Voldemort comparisons, of course). But the sort of lax attitude towards the truth that the Trump Administration has - the blatant lying and the euphemistic language like "alternative facts" - carries a distinctively 1984ish tone in a way I've never certainly experienced before in the US.
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