Will Twitter Be An Accomplice To Murder?

"KillZimmerman" profile
picture on Twitter

April 6, 2012 - Incredibly, Twitter has not yet taken down an account that calls itself "@KillZimmerman." The name is inspired by the account holder's call for the death of George Zimmerman, the man accused of killing Trayvon Martin in February. Now two weeks old, the account is still up and has produced 459 "tweets" (posts) as of this writing. Where are the calls from Liberals, Leftists and Democrats for "civility," and why are they not expressing outrage and disgust at this?

When I wrote about "@Kill Zimmerman" on March 29, it was already five days old.  It was created on March 24. I was amazed that Twitter allowed an open call for violence to remain for so long, and I thought that Twitter would certainly squash the offensive account. To everyone's amazement, they have not.

An open call to murder on Twitter (click to enlarge)

If @KillZimmerman inspires someone to commit murder, would Twitter be an accomplice to the crime? Ask yourself this: If a newspaper published over 400 letters to the editor that advocated the killing of somebody, and if that person was killed, would the newspaper be held responsible? When Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz) was shot in the head, the Liberal Media quickly accused conservatives as inspiring the shooting. The Left, wrong as usual, said that the shooter was pushed over the edge by their "heated rhetoric."

Well, what is @KillZimmerman, if not super heated rhetoric? I don't recall any Republican candidates calling for the death of anybody, yet here is a Leftist with a photo of George Zimmerman in a crosshairs. The open call for his murder has not elicited a call by Leftists or Democrat leaders for "more civility" in public discourse.

Not to be outdone, another leftist loon created an equally disgusting Twitter account called "@BeheadZimmerman."

WARNING: Yes, that's the "C" word

"Progressives are getting so much like terrorist Muslims it’s amazing," wrote fireandreamitchell.com on March 29. "Obama, Spike Lee, Roseanne Barr, the Congressional Black Caucus, and all the pathetic pink slime media hacks trying to gin up some sort of race war should be very proud of themselves." The @BeheadZimmerman account describes itself this way: "This page is dedicated to the arrest and jail gang rape of George Zimmerman. Pissing on Zimmerman’s lawn."  Isn't that nice?

These Twitter accounts, @KillZimmerman and @BeheadZimmerman, are but two of thousands of examples of liberals openly calling for murder to be committed. It's a nationwide, digital vigilante party, salivating at the prospect of a man being killed before he's even been proven guilty in a court of law. It shows the mindset of so many liberals (what, you think these nutjobs are conservatives?!?), who care nothing about legality, civility or decency.

"It is alarming how easy it is for social media to stir the public into a mob-like frenzy," wrote Chris Dunn at Collegiate Times on April 4. "On Facebook, groups are calling for the death of Zimmerman. 'I want George Zimmerman dead,' 'Kill George Zimmerman,' and 'Kill Zimmerman' have appeared over the past few weeks. On Twitter, the user @KillZimmerman and the users interacting with the account have called for a modern day lynching. Comments include 'We should just get up and #killzimmerman ourselves,' and 'I think they should shoot Zimmerman dead in his head in jail'.”

Plenty of people are disgusted by all of this, including John Romano. He is the publisher and editor of "Yes, But However!" website. On March 30, Romano wrote this:

Empty promise: John Romano is still on Twitter

"I have no problem with people tweeting all day long calling for Mr. Zimmerman’s arrest, that kind of activism is as American as apple pie, but creating a page devoted solely to inciting violence is too much for me.  If Twitter allows it to stand I’ll do what small thing I can and stop using the service.  Life is too short and Twitter should know better." 

Just moments ago, a week after Romano vowed to "stop using" Twitter, I tweeted this to Romano's still active account:

@yesbuthowever On March 30 you said 'If Twitter allows' @KillZimmerman 'to stand' you would leave Twitter. Changed your mind?

John Romano's hypocrisy is almost as disturbing as the vile hate rhetoric that he claims he cannot tolerate. Perhaps he won't be able to respond to me on Twitter, because I'm sure my little reminder will spur him to immediately cancel his Twitter account.

Related:

• ‘KillZimmerman’ Twitter advocates violence against Martin’s killer (dailycaller.com)
• Calls for George Zimmerman Death Find Home on Social Media (abc.go.com)
• CNN Explains Why Twitter Hasn’t Deleted ‘Kill Zimmerman’ Account (mediaite.com)
• Election Year Civility: Obama's Tucson Memorial vs. Trayvon Martin (breitbart.com)
• NBC Shielding Producer Responsible for Edited George Zimmerman 911 Call (nymag.com)