After more than thirty years of terror attacks in Western capitals by Islamic extremists and cultish groups like ISIS, we’ve all grown accustom to the tired hyperbole that emanates from non-stop cable news coverage, opportunistic politicians who cravenly swoop in to fearmonger and now, sadly, our social media streams.
The hashtag #StopIslam has long been used by right-wing Twitter users and shortly after news of the terror attacks in Belgium broke, the ugly trending topic popped back up:
While ISIS has already claimed responsibility for the attacks at the Brussels airport and a subway station, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz reacted to the news by calling on police in the United States to “patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.” His rival and Republican frontrunner Donald Trump used the attacks to, again, call for a return to torture and waterboarding of suspected terrorists.
Echoing the Republican candidates’ responses, the parade of bigoted tweets targeting Muslims using the #StopIslam hashtag was as nauseating as expected:
#Islam does NOT belong in #Christian countries … #StopIslam #childbrides pic.twitter.com/53vaBV0RfA
— Rick T.A. 🇬🇧 Son of Eric 🌎 🔍 (@Eric_Ericeira) March 17, 2016
#StopIslam now‼They all read the same Quran! They are instructed to kill the non believer over and over again‼️ pic.twitter.com/OOuq1SfR9T
— Cristina Laila (@cristinalaila1) March 22, 2016
The best way to #StopIslam is a good guy/gal with a gun.
— Liars Never Win (@liars_never_win) March 22, 2016
Twitter has censored the #StopIslam hashtag. It is no longer appearing in trending topics.
— MILO (@Nero) March 22, 2016
It is unclear if Twitter actually prevented the hashtag from being prominently featured in its trending section, but after gaining steam quickly, the hateful hashtag was soon overwhelmed with messages of unity and peace:
#StopIslam, eh? If you can't find Brussels on a map, the distinction between Islam & terrorism will pass you by, too. #StopIgnorance
— Jeffrey Wright 🥜 (@jfreewright) March 22, 2016
I'll see your #StopIslam & raise you a #StopIgnorantHashtags.
Radical extremists are to Islam what the KKK is to Christianity.
— Eric Wolfson (@EricWolfson) March 22, 2016
One 3rd of the world is Muslim.This is more thn 2 billion pple.If Islam was a religion of violence,they'd be no one left on earth.#StopIslam
— فائزہ شعیب خٹک ❤ (@faiza_amin1990) March 22, 2016
