Don’t hold back, tell me how you really feel , but only if it fits in 149 charact

You’ll remember how the other day Shore old boy Trenton Oldfield swam midstream to disturb the Oxford boat race in order to protest something or other. One of the rowers, William Zeng, had this to say about the incident:

When I missed your head with my blade I knew only that you were a swimmer, and if you say you are a protester then, no matter what you say your cause may be, your action speaks too loudly for me to hear you. I know, with immediate emotion, exactly what you were protesting. You were protesting the right of seventeen young men and one woman to compete fairly and honorably, to demonstrate their hard work and desire in a proud tradition. You were protesting their right to devote years of their lives, their friendships, and their souls to the fair pursuit of the joys and the hardships of sport. You, who would make a mockery of their dedication and their courage, are a mockery of a man.

Excellently put. Trouble is, Zeng did this on Twitter, so that eloquent paragraph originally came out like this:

8 Apr William Zeng ‏ @Zengscape
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and the hardships of sport. You, who would make a mockery of their dedication and their courage, are a mockery of a man.

8 Apr William Zeng ‏ @Zengscape
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You were protesting their right to devote years of their lives, their friendships, and their souls to the fair pursuit of the joys

8 Apr William Zeng ‏ @Zengscape
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to demonstrate their hard work and desire in a proud tradition.

8 Apr William Zeng ‏ @Zengscape
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you were protesting. You were protesting the right of seventeen young men and one woman to compete fairly and honorably,

8 Apr William Zeng ‏ @Zengscape
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no matter what you say your cause may be, your action speaks too loudly for me to hear you. I know, with immediate emotion, exactly what you

8 Apr William Zeng ‏ @Zengscape
Reply RetweetedRetweet Delete FavoritedFavorite • Close Open Details
When I missed your head with my blade I knew only that you were a swimmer, and if you say you are a protester then,

You have to read it from bottom to top to make sense of it, and the sentences are chopped off in the middle! That is as good a demonstration as any other as to why Twitter will never be an effective medium for argument.