There’s nothing funny about war. So it’s unsurprising that a trending Twitter hashtag #HamasBumperStickers is being met with equal parts horror and glee.
“What’s the martyr with you?”, “I don’t break for Jews,” and “My other car is also a mass of blackened, twisted metal” are just a few of the Tweets cascading out today under the #HamasBumperStickers hashtag.
For those unfamiliar with Twitter, a hashtag is a way of marking — with a # — a keyword or topic that other people can follow and post to. The People’s Cube, a satirical, conservative website, claimed credit for launching #HamasBumperStickers at 10pm on November 14. By Novembers 15, as Israeli and Palestinian Twitter feeds did virtual battle, #HamasBumperStickers was among the hottest trending topics on Twitter worldwide.
But not everyone was amused. “So disgusted that something like #HamasBumperStickers is trending,” wrote Malak. “It’s easier than ever now to identify racists and advocates of child murder on twitter,” wrote Patrick Galey. “Just follow #HamasBumperStickers.”
When both sides are done flinging insults at each other, they might want to head over to Cafe Press, which offers a wide selection of pro- and anti- Hamas and Israel bumper stickers, from a Hamas flag rectangle decal ($5.20) to a “JIHAD THIS” bumper sticker ($5).
Contact Paul Berger at berger@forward.com or on Twitter @pdberger.
REFRESH TO SEE THE LATEST #HamasBumperStickers TWEETS
Tweets about “#HamasBumperStickers”
Monday night marked the final presidential debate of 2012. For those voters sad to wait another four years to hear their favorite talking points, we’ve captured the best reactions from the Twitter-verse on the action from Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla.
Comedian David Wain, new to live-tweeting debates, was quick to catch on to the tone of the action, tweeting sarcastically, “Jesus, neither guy is letting the other get a word in!”
Foreign policy was the issue of the night, expected to draw many comments on Iran, Afghanistan and Libya. However, there was a surprise name-drop early on and cheers to anyone who had Mali in their country office pool.
President Barack Obama had the first good zinger of the night, telling Mitt Romney that the “1980s are calling for their foreign policy back.” However, not everyone was amused, including Commentary magazine’s Seth Mandel
Comedian Sarah Silverman quickly drew tired of both candidates rhetoric, tweeting, “Would there ever be a day when we ‘can’t afford’ military? Nuclear bombs? WE NEED HEALTH CARE”
What’s the use of a spin room when we have social media? Last night, the Twitterverse turned its eyes towards the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan.
You’ve probably already heard all of the “malarkey” from partisans representing both parties, but here’s a look at the lighter side of last night’s important debate.
Early on, many viewers thought Biden was faring better than President Barack Obama’s widely-criticized performance last week. Andy Borowitz, author of The Borowitz Report, tweeted:
POLL: By Wide Margin, Democrats Want Biden in All Remaining Debates #debate #vpdebate
Andy Borowitz (@BorowitzReport) October 12, 2012
As discussion turned to Iran, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu became the hot topic of discussion. Commentary magazine’s Alana Goodman observed:
You know what Biden needs? A bomb chart.
Alana Goodman (@alanagoodman) October 12, 2012
Michael Koplow, program director at the Israel Institute, noted that:
Picking “Bibi” in #VPDebate bingo was clearly the right move on my part.
Michael Koplow (@mkoplow) October 12, 2012
There’s an early entry in the category political pin of the year. Not sure how everyone missed this pun for the first eight months of the political year, but finally someone realized that Mitt Romney’s first name can be turned into a Jewish good deed without too much trying.
As the Republican National Convention officially begins today, a bit of intrigue consumed the Twitter-verse this morning.
The schedule now includes a “To be announced” speaker on Thursday night, before Sen. Marco Rubio and Mitt Romney take the podium.
So who’s the mystery man (or woman)? Your Tweet’s as good as our’s.
@petersuderman of Reason magazine tweeted, “If JJ Abrams ran the GOP convention, they’d never reveal the mystery speaker,” while @jpodhoretz referred to the hoopla as “Mystery Speaker Theatre 3000.”
@RosieGray, covering the convention for BuzzFeed, was at the Florida delegation breakfast this morning. No word on what was served, but she did have a breakdown of protestors interrupting Rubio’s speech. One yelled, about the GOP supposedly “whoring itself out” to corporations, while an elderly woman said, “Mr. Rubio, I want you to pay your fair share!”
Readers might not expect a lot of historical analysis from the British tabloid The Daily Mail. But it shouldn’t be too much for the editors to at least remember Nazi Germany and some of its signature evil.
That’s why it was particularly disturbing to see this item uncovered by the Twittersphere this morning from a piece published last month by columnist Dominique Jackson, in which she somehow forgot to mention the concentration camp provenance of the notorious slogan “Arbeit Macht Frei.”
The German slogan “Arbeit Macht Frei” is somewhat tainted by its connection with Nazi concentration camps, but its essential message, “work sets you free” still has something serious to commend it. There is dignity to be gained from any job, no matter how menial, and for young people at the start of their careers, there are valuable lessons to be learned from any form of employment, whether that is on the factory floor, on a supermarket till or in the contemporary hard labour camp of a merchant bank or law office.
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