REFLECTING A CULTURE of legal posturing in place of careful consideration, MCD initiated a lawsuit against the largest collective of Irish online. According to Scrudu, fewer than a dozen Irish bloggers have noted the story. Not unexpectedly, the MCD action has stifled some discussion threads at boards.ie but what might not be expected is the self-inflicted damage MCD has incurred as a result of attacking pop culture at the water cooler. More than anything else, the discussion at boards.ie connects people throughout every county in Ireland. It takes just little ripple at boards.ie to wash over every ticket-buying twentysomething in the State. Has the MCD executive suite considered how long it might take to recover from the chill brought about by legal proceedings?
Like it or not, people talk about their experiences. Good or bad, they air on radio and through electronic discussions. What the boards.ie admins removed still courses through the e-mail lists and direct mails of hundreds of people. If the case goes to court, the allegedly defamatory evidence will enjoy a rebirth as it enters the public gallery and gets disseminated across hundreds of Irish blogs.
The ripples have already started. Shane McCarrick, senior civil servant in the Department of Agriculture and his fiancee have complained to the Equality Tribunal after MCD's security staff allegedly accused them of being drug dealers. McCarrick suffers from Crohn's Disease and needs to take steroid tablets at three-hour intervals. His fiancee has type one diabetes and requires regular injections of insulin and carbohydrates in the form of fruit drinks. As they explained on boards.ie, they were shaken down by MCD staff at an REM concert in June 2005 and accused of drug dealing. Since McCarrack's discussion board post mentioned MCD, it was pulled from the forum. McCarrick then brought his case to the Equality Tribunal. MCD deserve a fair crack at explaining why security staff choose to ignore doctor's notes and instead opt to quarantine concert goers in areas away from event controllers.
As this case devleops, there is no restraining a court document from the perpetual spotlight of the web archive. In bringing the action against the boards.ie community, MCD will seriously damage itself if its case is heard in open court. Does MCD management really want this course of action to unfold?
Perhaps they planned this. After all, MCD has excelled at entertaining the masses.
Mark Tighe -- "Civil servant harassed for taking medicine to rock gig" in The Sunday Times, September 3, 2006.
