A tweet by Fox News contributor Erik Rush — that all Muslims should be killed in response to the Boston Marathon bombings — has set off a firestorm of debate on Twitter.
The hashtag #muslims was trending as pro- and anti-Islamic voices weighed in.
In what was widely described as a « joke, » Rush tweeted:
Everybody do the National Security Ankle Grab! Let’s bring more Saudis in without screening them! C’mon!#bostonmarathon — Erik Rush (@erikrush) April 15, 2013
When a responder tweeted, « Are you ALREADY BLAMING MUSLIMS?? » Rush responded:
« Yes, they’re evil. Let’s kill them all. »
He later tweeted that he was being sarcastic.
However, when a predictable flood of abuse, shocked disgust and the occasional encouragement came, Rush appeared defiant, retweeting the more profane of the responses.
Here is a cross section that we found representative of the reaction.
#Reactions on Twitter to the Boston terror attacks
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Most vile & disgusting thing I have seen in a very long time Fox News Erik Rush, says we should KILL all Muslims! pic.twitter.com/atHili2cUU
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Apparently someone at Fox News tweeted « Kill All Muslims » after the explosions. As a Boston resident, and as a human being, I’m disgusted.
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Conservative writer and Fox News regular @ErikRush: kill all Muslims in response to Boston attack bit.ly/1063swA
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Everybody do the National Security Ankle Grab! Let’s bring more Saudis in without screening them! C’mon! #bostonmarathon
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When something bad happens in America, Muslims pray….when something bad happens in an Arab country, Americans turn their heads.
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RT “@dalu3a_93: Non Muslims defending Muslims. I was surprised at all the positive tweets. We’ve come a long way since 9/11. beautiful :’)”
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Almost every tweet ive read from the past hour on muslims is people showing support towards Islam.
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@YourAnonNews RT @warsucks: « muslims » trending on twitter for best possible reason–people defending muslims against bigotry.
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Everyones defending muslims but i havent seen a single tweet blaming them…
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I respect all the Non-Muslims that understand that Muslims aren’t the ones to blame for the bombing.
