Two years ago, a viral tweet that said Nazis deserve to be shot ignited a storm of controversy. On its two-year anniversary, Twitter users are copying and pasting the tweet in solidarity against antisemitism.
Zipporah Arielle (@coffeespoonie), a 26-year-old disability activist whose grandparents were Holocaust survivors, was temporarily banned from Twitter for sharing her thoughts in 2017. On Sunday, she reflected on the tweet and reiterated her opinion on evildoers.
“I somehow missed the two year anniversary of the greatest tweet I ever wrote!! I can’t repost it because Twitter already suspended me for it once and they’ll do it again BUT just because someone is human doesn’t mean that someone isn’t evil,” she tweeted.
In the original tweet, Arielle argued that despite being humans with aspirations and even intimate personal lives, Nazis are ultimately evil and “deserve to be shot.”
“Nazis are people. Nazis are human beings. They were young once. They have parents. Many are parents, or will be. They have dreams. They have feelings. They have human bodies. They sleep. They get sick. They age. And they still deserve to be shot. That’s very fucking important,” she wrote.
“Nazis are people.
— BigNoNo (@_bignono) November 24, 2019
Nazis are human beings.
They were young once. They have parents. Many are parents, or will be. They have dreams. They have feelings. They have human bodies. They sleep. They get sick. They age.
& they still deserve to be shot.
That’s very fucking important.” https://t.co/B0zJR6D1uu
Arielle explained that the infamous tweet was created as a result of “Nazi sympathy” in 2017, when she believed antisemitism was particularly high. She shared a video of a Nazi being punched in the face, calling it funny, and was reprimanded online as a result.
“Some people responded by saying it wasn’t funny because Nazis are bad, but they’re still people… basically, messages of sympathy for the Nazi (while ignoring those negatively impacted by his Nazism),” Arielle told the Daily Dot via Twitter message.
But far-right Twitter users caught wind of her tweet and reported her account to Twitter, among other tactics to harass her.
“They did a lot to try and silence me, by threatening me and my loved ones with murder, rape, harassment, assault and battery, and more,” Arielle said. “If I searched my name, I found myself all over forums like 4chan with comment after comment insulting me for being Jewish, disabled, a woman, etc.; I was sent endless hate mail online including images of me [Photoshopped] to appear as if I was in an oven, or a gas chamber, or being sexually assaulted by Hitler.”
After being swarmed with mass-reporting, both Twitter and Paypal suspended her accounts. But amid the attacks, “there was also an equal and opposite positive backlash,” Arielle said. Supporters on social media continued to spread her message by reposting her tweet in solidarity. Eventually, her Twitter account was reopened.
Even though she has refrained from retweeting the post on its two-year anniversary (out of fear that Twitter will suspend her again), others are sharing the original text.
Nazis are people.
— Kata Strof 🚩🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️ (@kati_hoo) November 25, 2019
Nazis are human beings.
They were young once. They have parents. Many are parents, or will be. They have dreams. They have feelings. They have human bodies. They sleep. They get sick. They age.
And they deserve to be shot. That’s very fucking important.
Nazis are people.
— Kata Strof 🚩🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️ (@kati_hoo) November 25, 2019
Nazis are human beings.
They were young once. They have parents. Many are parents, or will be. They have dreams. They have feelings. They have human bodies. They sleep. They get sick. They age.
And they deserve to be shot. That’s very fucking important.
Nazis are people.
— mark!!☆🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ (@for_etheria) November 25, 2019
Nazis are human beings.
They were young once. They have parents. Many are parents, or will be. They have dreams. They have feelings. They have human bodies. They sleep. They get sick. They age.
And they still deserve to be shot.
That’s very fucking important.
“Their goal was to silence me, but I will never be silenced,” Arielle said. “I will never stop speaking up for what I know is right, and I will never stop speaking out against naziism, racism, antisemitism, fascism, and hatred in all forms.”
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