Those Sea Point glasses: Social media missing the point?

Ah, social media. It makes everyone an expert on everything, giving all the power to publish their every thought, whim and wish, whether valid or not - the plethora of people who suddenly became 'legal experts' with the much publicised #PistoriusTrial was enough to put anyone off of Facebook for a few weeks.

Now another social media furore's broken out, this time Cape Town-specific and linked to the man who's still nearest and dearest to the country's heart, Madiba. When it was first installed, comments were few and far between, and those that did appear were fairly unbiased:

Glasses for giants. Pre- #perceivingfreedom ribbon cutting on the Sea Point promenade. pic.twitter.com/0sG16sRTTA

- Hello Pretty (@helloprettysa) November 6, 2014

As they should be. You'd think a sculpture in honour of the nation's most beloved former president would soothe the seething social masses - but you'd think wrong. Comments have been less than complimentary after the initial installation. It's popping up everywhere online, from the usual crop of speedy social commentary from the likes of The Daily Maverick, Africa is a Country and Mahala, to Art Times, The Guardian, and City Press, for starters... My personal favourite was Tom Eaton's take in ZANews.

Even Lion's Head got involved:

Actually, you didn't. They're mine. RT @seapointJew: Found my glasses on Sea Point promenade.

- Lion's Head (@LionsHeadCPT) November 10, 2014

But I digress. It gets worse - it seems those super large lenses are more than just an eyesore - now Twitter's ablaze with comments that they actually ruined the environment when they started a fire. This is the tweet that started it all:

"Fire breaks out on Sea Point promenade due to refraction of the sun through art glasses" pic.twitter.com/0E8QTnyXIR

- Diana Moss (@miss_moss) November 12, 2014

Comments were suitably scathing and, dare I say, witty:

What did the geniuses who put up the RayBan sculpture in Sea Point think was gonna happen when you put giant glasses in the sun? On grass.

- freckles & vuil kyke (@BooksBootsBio) November 12, 2014

But was the fire 'outbreak' real or just another prank to prove a point? Were the naysayers on the right track from the start? Was this a bad idea to begin with or simply misinterpreted by those so fast to jump on the social media bandwagon? You decide...

UPDATE: Comment about social media and you'll get a plethora of social media responses. As proof, I received the following tweet about the 'burning' Sea Point glasses:

@Leigh_Andrews Does this shed some light on the Sea Point glasses controversy? pic.twitter.com/bWAd50IsSu

- Sparticus (@IRSparticus) November 14, 2014

Then there was this one...

@Leigh_Andrews @StuShapiroPhoto ok cool. Liked the matter-of-fact style of the article. Thought this was fitting... pic.twitter.com/hezvxVoTU2

- One Up Marketing (@OneUpAgency) November 18, 2014

All of which prompted Stu Shapiro himself, responsible for the fire photo, to tweet the following:

@Leigh_Andrews @OneUpAgency fire was photoshopped as a satire commentary to reflect peoples emotions around the controversial art piece :).

- stu shapiro (@StuShapiroPhoto) November 18, 2014

Now we know.