On Twitter, things got sillier again with the sudden emergence of @freethefalkland, a hilarious, obviously-fake account, supposedly by a Falkland Islander. It proclaims to speak, "The true about the Falkland Island People and their search for the independence from the Britain." Actually, I shouldn't be so cynical about assuming he's a fake. After all, he insists, "I not Argentinian but if I was the Argentinian I would not be ashame. I am citizen of world friend. Take the chilling pill." Either way, he's been a wonderful comic foil for @hms_dauntless, albeit unwittingly. I hope he doesn't get banned.
As it turns out, @freethefalkland was also a parody account. The author subsequently admitted,
Some weeks ago I created the fake twitter account @freethefalkland. I didn't have any expectations, just a 'character' who was clearly 'Spanish speaking' but who insisted in broken English that he was a Falklander. Over the weeks I interacted with people on all sides. Islanders, Brits, Argentinians, Americans, Anglo-Argentinians, Scots nationalists, Irish nationalists.....
Wow, a Brit pretending to be an Argentinian pretending to be a Falkland Islander. A sockpuppet of a sockpuppet? That's...meta.
It wouldn't be my chosen method of parody - I like people to know that what I'm doing is satire. Even so, I have to admit it was a convincing hoax. I recall at the time gleefully leaping aboard with his Twibbon campaign to demand a UN referendum of the Islanders to decide their future, thinking, "Heehee, doesn't he realise that this would actually strengthen the case for the status quo?" As it turns out, he knew exactly that.
In his coming-out speech he makes the point that while he does not believe the Islanders should become Argentine against their will, both camps could do with less rhetoric and more discussion. I'm unashamedly on the pro-British side (or, more accurately, pro-Islander and pro-self-determination, since I'm not given to flagwaving) but I have to concede it's a valid point.
While I've been happy to admit I was fooled and have a chuckle about it, @FreeTheFalkland has been greeted with howls of outrage from some tweeters.
" is your next project to tweet the people of Homs as a President Assad supporter?"
"Over educated dick takes piss out of island yokels, &then posts blog on how he suffered for his art"
"If #Selfdetermination is the sacred cow you're prodding, don't be surprised to get a swift kick in the a$$"
"can we now call @freethefalkland a English cunt now?"
Interestingly, and I suspect this isn't a coincidence, every howl of outrage I've seen has been from a British card-carrying Tory. Of the Islanders themselves, I've only come across one - @BennyinBritain - who has commented on the affair and he seems quite sanguine about it.
One might suggest that these Tories have been shouting their nationalist rhetoric at what they've now discovered is a non-existent target, and they're livid about it.
Outrage about outrage. Once again, how very meta.
Humour is a good way to defuse anger and hate, which is why I started @notHMSDauntless. I suspect in his own way @FreeTheFalkland had a similar objective. The actual HMS Dauntless leaves Britain tomorrow for the Falklands, so I suspect @notHMSDauntless may soon be navigating some choppy waters of its own.
In the meantime, I refer those outraged about @FreeTheFalkland's ruse to his earlier advice. They should take the chilling pill.
