@ShellyHorton1 on her Trending Tony Tweet

Shelly Horton

Shelly Horton

By Margo Kingston
March 11, 2013

Shelley Horton (@ShellyHorton1) writes for the party pages of the Sun Herald. ‘I normally tweet about reality TV shows and new clubs,’ she told me today. Last night, she tweeted her personal response to Tony Abbott’s interview on 60 minutes, and to the love story, on a man’s care for his wife with Alzeimers. To her, same thing, a personal response.

BOOM! When we spoke, 332 retweets and 96 favourites later, she is surprised and frustrated. ‘I got a note that it was trending in Sydney, then trending in Melbourne, now trending in Australia.

‘I don’t know why, I’m no expert on politics but I’ve never had a tweet go this crazy.’

‘I am now off completely from tweeting anything political at all. It was just a tweet as a punter but now my feed is completely clogged up with people I don’t want to have a conversation with. It’s 50-50 and I’ve blocked a couple of people who have personally attacked me.’

So, Shelly, how did you come to your opinion on TA?

‘I just felt riled looking at the Tony Abbott interview. To me he looked so uncomfortable trying to say whatever he had to say to get elected rather than what he actually believed. I thought his sister looked particularly uncomfortable.

‘I understand that they are blood and still love each other, but when he is so vocal about being anti-gay and anti-gay marriage and now to be saying it is OK to be gay but no to gay marriage – he sounded like he was cherry picking.

‘I based my opinion on the interview and his body language and the squirming he and his sister did.’

‘I would like to stress that I am not an expert and I am not voting for Tony Abbott or Julia Gillard, partly because neither fit my values. I am straight and in a relationship with a man. I marched in the Gay Mardi Gras this year and it was an incredibly positive experience.’

Tony Abbott and sister Christine Forsterin. Photo: 60 Minutes

Tony Abbott and sister Christine Forsterin. Photo: 60 Minutes

Read More:

60 Minutes Interview with Tony Abbott 

Abbott vows to keep religion out of policy


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Comments


  1. Reblogged this on Globalized Communication and Culture COMM1107 and commented:
    The surprise of having your tweet trend. A very recent example.


  2. I hope the reaction means that people are becoming involved again in politics.


  3. Was that a sick bucket in the photo of Tony and his sister?
    Would have needed on had I watched the show.