One comment on the Internet can set off a virtual fistfight on social media. And it seems Egypt’s British ambassador John Casson was not spared Wednesday, when his informal tweet set off a firestorm.
“You want to work at the British Embassy? We welcome everyone and we welcome the son of a garbage collector,” the ambassador said in his re-tweet of the British Embassy's announcement that it was hiring a community liaison officer. Three hours after the tweet was posted, it had been retweeted more than 1,700 times, and it had already been connected to the latest social media war in Egypt.
The tweet was a snide reference to Egypt’s ex-minister of justice, who just resigned Tuesday after he provoked a national uproar in Egypt by saying that the son of a garbage collector should not be appointed as a judge at the Justice Ministry, as judges “should hail from suitable origins for this work.”
In his interview on TV Channel Ten, Mahmoud Saber said “a judge should come from a social class suited to the job, with all due respect to garbage collectors." The story garnered international attention, as the remarks set off long debates on the deep-seated social divisions of Egyptian society.
Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab later said that, “The cabinet respects all layers of society and appreciates the workers in particular, and is convinced that they are involved in shaping the future of this nation,” according to Ahram Online .
Some people applauded the ambassador’s sense of humor, with Cairo Scene saying that “the UK's Ambassador in Cairo wins at life with a simple tweet.”
Surprisingly, many others on Twitter attacked the ambassador. Some did so by pointing out the difficulties Egyptians face when applying to obtain U.K. visas, while others brought up Britain's long history of imperialism in Egypt. Others called the tweet inappropriate behavior for a diplomat, as well as interference in Egypt’s internal affairs.
Even more surprising was the fact that a hashtag calling for the expulsion of the ambassador soon emerged on Twitter.
It seems as if the ambassador has not learned his lesson, as this is not the first time that Ambassador Casson has caused strife thanks to his informal tweets.