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Sunday, January 29, 2012
“I hope you die of Lupus”: Could Rep Joey Manahan be Convicted with his own Cyber Harassment law?
By Andrew Walden @ 6:38 PM :: 6815 Views :: Energy, Environment

“I hope you die of Lupus”: Could Rep Joey Manahan be Convicted with his own Cyber Harassment law?

by Andrew Walden

In light of the now-deferred HB2288 Internet spying bill—pitched as a tool to go after cyber-harassment and bullying--a reader draws our attention to some 2010 online comments allegedly by HB2288 co-sponsor Rep Joey Manahan: 

Political Radar, July 14, 2010 reports:  

Ugly insults? Or a plot to embarrass a state lawmaker? That was the mystery today after playful banter about a shark photo on the Facebook page of a lobbyist devolved into ethnic jokes and a vicious, profanity laced outburst.

Lauren Zirbel, a lobbyist, posted the shark photo on her Facebook page and several friends responded with clever comments. According to a transcript of the exchanges, state Rep. Joey Manahan, (D-Sand Island, Kalihi, Kapalama), — or someone who hijacked his account — joked: “I hear they make good soup.”

State lawmakers voted this year to ban the sale and possession of shark fins and gave Chinese restaurants until next July to use any shark fins in inventory for shark-fin soup.

Tracy Okubo, another lobbyist, who is Chinese, cracked: “Just as Filipinos can joke about eating dog, us Chinese can now joke about eating shark. Lol.”

The person posting as Manahan, who is Filipino, responded that he did not take kindly to people who say Filipinos eat dogs and launched a series of profanities and insults at Okubo.

In one comment, the person posting as Manahan told Okubo, who has lupus: “I hope you die of lupus!”

Okubo posted her own profanities against Manahan. She declined to comment further today other than to say she thought Manahan’s remark about her disease was inexcusable.

An upset Manahan, who considers Okubo a friend, said he has no idea how the comments were posted under his name. He called Okubo this afternoon to explain.

“I didn’t do it,” Manahan said. “I wouldn’t say anything like that or put it in writing. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.”

The posts appeared late last night on Facebook and were quickly deleted by the person posting as Manahan. Other people saved the comments and forwarded the thread to the Star-Advertiser.

Manahan’s HB2288 was suddenly deferred after becoming an overnight international news story. Ironically, if the mandatory 2-year Internet usage log were in place, the Manahan mystery could be resolved once and for all and we could discover if Manahan in fact was the author of those comments.

It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there.

---30---

Related: Update: HB2288 Deferred -- Bill Would Track the Websites You Visit

HB2288 Introducers: MIZUNO, ITO, MANAHAN, Awana, Har, M. Lee, Nishimoto

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