Social networking giant maintains ‘Kill Zimmerman’ page despite massive condemnation
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Friday, March 30, 2012
Twitter has refused to delete a profile page advocating the violent murder of George Zimmerman, the man who shot Trayvon Martin, even after a massive media backlash and despite the social network’s regular practice of deleting accounts for the comparatively minor offense of spamming celebrities or discussing certain political issues.
The profile page features an image of Zimmerman in crosshairs and includes tweets such as “Fuck the government. & #KILLZIMMERMAN,” “Rt if you think Zimmerman should Be Shot Instead Of Goon To Jail #KILLZIMMERMAN,” “Since I don’t have a date or escort I’m thinking about running away and killing Zimmerman,” “we should just all get up and #killzimmerman ourselves; fuck the system,” and “I ain’t no hater but I hate that cracka.”
One of the Tweets also expresses support for the fact that Obama has publicly involved himself in the Trayvon Martin controversy.
The page has been active for around a week and despite widespread media attention, Twitter has refused to remove the profile.
Is Twitter taking a political stance amidst one of the most racially charged public debates America has ever seen by keeping the ‘Kill Zimmerman’ page active? A brief summary of pages that were deleted by the company in the recent past suggests the answer is yes.
Blogger David Seaman had his Twitter account temporarily suspended after sending out numerous tweets trying to get celebrities with large numbers of followers to draw attention to issues such as the NDAA and Occupy Wall Street. The fact that Seaman was sending so many messages to celebrities was characterized as spamming by Twitter.
Apparently, according to Twitter spamming celebrities is not OK, but advocating murder is perfectly acceptable.
- A d v e r t i s e m e n t
- {openx:74}
When other writers drew attention to the story, including the International Business Times’ Connor Sheets, Twitter began deleting accounts that discussed the matter, as well as removing tweets with the #NDAA hashtag.
Apparently, according to Twitter, talking about the ‘indefinite detention’ provisions of the NDAA (which were demanded by the Obama administration) is not OK, but advocating murder is perfectly acceptable.
Twitter also came under fire earlier this year when it publicly stated that it may delete tweets and accounts if ordered to by foreign governments that have “different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression”.
Apparently, according to Twitter, criticizing dictatorial governments is sometimes not OK, but advocating murder is perfectly acceptable.
Whatever your viewpoint is on the Trayvon Martin controversy, and only the most naive would deny the fact that Obama and the Democrats are exploiting it to feed into their class and race warfare agenda, advocating murder is not only in bad taste, it’s a criminal offense.
In US law, advocating violence itself is not a hate crime, but when “the threat of violence is imminent,” it does constitute a criminal offense. The fact that public figures, including black panther members, are now encouraging people to hunt down and kill George Zimmerman, means this standard has clearly been met.
By refusing to delete the profile, Twitter is therefore complicit in facilitating a criminal offense. When violent comments are posted on Infowars, we get intimidating visits from the FBI and Secret Service, but when Twitter openly allows violent rhetoric to be spewed even after widespread condemnation, they are apparently left alone.
*********************
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.
The Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today!
