Reimer: Nick Bosa's Twitter account should not be used against him



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Think back to all the stupid things that came out of your ignorant mouth as an irritating teenager. Now imagine if you broadcast these nonsensical views on social media and you held the responsibility to adulthood.

Your excuse will last longer than the launch of Joe Biden's gaffe campaign.

But it was one of the predominant themes of the NFL drafting weekend, where two of the top rated candidates were forced to apologize for their activity on teen social networks. Nick Bosa, whom the 49ers chose with the No. 2 pick, expressed his disappointment at his rash decisions to call Colin Kaepernick a "clown" and Beyonce's "sneaky" music at 18.

"I'm sorry I hurt someone," he said, according to NFL Media. "I absolutely did not intend it to be the case. I think my presence here (in San Francisco) is even better for me as a person, because I do not think there is a place, a city, in which you could really be, that would help you grow as much that this one. I will be surrounded by people of all kinds, so I will grow as a person. I will be alone. I'm going to grow up, I'm going to learn a lot of new things. It's exciting. "

Maybe Bosa, an ardent social media supporter of President Trump, has changed his mind. It would be applaudable. But it is not necessary. Bosa should be able to publicly disagree with Kaepernick's protest and play for his former team.

But what has prevailed in the many Bosa mea culpas – he also praised Kaepernick and said that he "respects" what the QB did – is that compliance is not negotiable. Bosa was ashamed of his thoughts in high school. Several publications, including the New York Times, suggest that his tweets were racist. After all, he called "Black Panther" the worst Marvel film ever made.

While abandonment ditches of social media such as Facebook and Twitter are entering their second decade of existence, we are now at a point where the digital history of many young adults is rising back up. as a teenager. This means that there are a lot of tweets and "likes" to go through, and if anything seems untoward, then it's time to jump.

That's what happened to Mecole Hardman, the new Scottish Chief, who was selected with the No. 56 selection. The pass-catcher tweeted several homophobic accusations from 2012 to 2015, using the word "gay" as a insult.

He was 14 years old.

"It's a long time ago," Hardman told Brooke Pryor of the Kansas City Star. "It's probably immature of me at the time to tweet such things. It's my fault for doing that. I am far from that. That's not what I am today.

I guess there is nothing wrong with asking future NFL stars if they still support the inflammatory comments of their past. At the very least, this allows them to disavow evils such as homophobia and racism, which is an excellent message to send. The world would be a better place if stupid children did not engage in hate speech at college lunch tables.

But there's something confusing and frankly scary about filtering teens' tweets back then trying to unearth the earth and get them into trouble years later. Instagram sneakers searched among Bosa's old "likes" to discover that he liked the posts of an apparent friend in 2014, which included offensive hashtags with racial slurs, homophobic provocations and sexual insinuations.

The hashtags are absolutely drivel – a 16-year-old punk mouth pu-put puppy platter, if you will. And yet, they found themselves at USA Today: "Nick Bosa liked the posts on Instagram featuring racist and homophobic insults," reads the title.

Teenagers say and do stupid things. Putting this kind of idiom on social networks makes it permanent, but it does not make it more indelible for Bosa or Hardman than a series of insults you probably launched against your friends during recess.

In these cases, the players deserve the benefit of the doubt. To scoff the jokes of the 14 and 16 year old school yard is a bad practice.

Related: Media Chronicle: NFL analysts apologize to Jeffery Simmons and ignore Tyreek Hill in another league whitewash

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