For 29 years, NPR has read aloud the Declaration of Independence on Independence Day, but this year they did something new, and apropos. They tweeted the entire text of the DoI, 140 characters at a time. That took 113 posts.
It went about as well as might be expected. Many people who tuned in late to the tweets didn’t recognize one of our country’s most famous documents. Trump supporters thought that the parts complaining about King George III were actually about Donald Trump (defensive, aren’t we?).
One Trump supporter called it “propaganda”:
Propaganda is that all you know how? Try supporting a man who wants to do something about the Injustice in this country #drainingtheswamp
People called it “trash”, “spam”, and “the dumbest idea I have ever seen on twitter”.
One person accused NPR of fomenting violence:
So, NPR is calling for revolution.
Interesting way to condone the violence while trying to sound “patriotic”.
Your implications are clear.
They later realized their mistake and apologized, but I think it is very interesting that people seem to forget that our country was founded through violent revolution. The DoI was a call to war.
6 Comments
It is a little frightening that folks read the words intended to describe a royal tyrant and immediately identified them with the guy they love having in the White House.
Fear not, and remember; George III lost.
For those of you keeping score:
Trump got fewer votes than Clinton.
His legislative agenda is in ruins.
He is in debt to Russian banks.
He laundered money for Russian criminals.
The Russian autocrat ordered meddling in the election to favor him.
And now his own base can’t tell him from a tyrant.
Bingo!
There were three King Georges of England. they got more and more mentally unbalanced as time went on. We have already had the third President George here. I thought he was a crazy as a President could get. I’m wrong.
The same party that’s been telling me all my life never to trust the Russian Commies (remember “Better Dead than Red”?) are now fine with their guy spilling sensitive intel to their “ambassadors” (i.e. spies) in the Oval Office while being photographed exclusively by Russian photographers, downplaying, if not denying, Russian interference in our election while dissing our own intelligence services, and has uttered nary a harsh word for Putin. Anyone see that tender handshake this morning? Trump practically gave him a reacharound. This is like Twilight Zone level ironic!