Someone named Salman Abedia killed himself with the intent of scaring millions of people, and in the process this 22-year-old man took not just his own life but the lives of 22 people, including an 8-year-old girl named Saffie Rose Roussos.
Almost 60 others were hurt, and many of the victims were children.
The news spread like a gasoline-fed fire via the world’s airwaves and fibers and cables and LTE and 3G and 4G and WiFi and ethernet. The faces of 22 people murdered in cold blood appear in our hands, their blood can be seen at our fingertips. We did not sign up for this when we activated our devices, and yet, there it is.
About the only thing that surprises me anymore is how some people react to the horrific events I’ve covered in my lifetime, from the bombing of our Marine barracks in 1983, the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland, the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, Oklahoma City, 9/11, Newtown, San Bernardino and attacks on innocents around the world from the Middle East to Africa to Russia and Indonesia.
Many people responded as I did, with shock and horror, tears and disgust. The internet can unite us in moments like this, and provide all of us a chance to connect in our sorrow, even with celebrities who typically seem so far from us.
The way some other people react is to draw attention to themselves and their beliefs, and in the social media universe, that temptation is greater than their moral restraint, presuming they have some.
As my colleague Graham Gremore wrote in Queerty, “Twitter troll @AntMcfc_ decided it would be an appropriate time to crack a homophobic ‘joke’ about the whole thing:”
Canal Street is popular among Manchester’s gay community.
When this particular troll was challenged on his homophobia, he merely doubled down.
Twitter did not hesitate; after receiving complaints, the company deleted his tweets and suspended his account.
As of press time it has not taken action against self-described “writer” David Leavitt, who tweeted
MULTIPLE CONFIRMED FATALITIES at Manchester Arena. The last time I listened to Ariana Grande I almost died too.
If that were not enough, Leavitt — who boasts in his Twitter profile that he writes for CBS News, AXS, Yahoo and The Examiner — followed up with:
Honestly, for over a year I thought an Ariana Grande was something you ordered at Starbucks.
He must have felt some pang of guilt, or something, as reactions poured in. So he tweeted: “Too soon?”
Children were dying and Leavitt was working on his standup routine. His next act might require a revision to his resume, reported the New York Daily News.
“This person is not employed by AXS. We don’t endorse this despicable comment,” AXS tweeted. CBS also confirmed that Leavitt does not work for the company.
“@David_Leavitt does not work for @CBSNews,” the company tweeted.
The CBS affiliate in Boston deleted articles from its WBZ-TV website.
“David Leavitt is not a WBZ employee. His abhorrent comments in no way represent the views of our station,” WBZ-TV tweeted.
And a Yahoo! spokesperson told the newspaper that Leavitt has not written for the company since 2014.
After being bombarded by angry tweets, Leavitt himself took action, deleting the offending original tweet, and posting an apology.
https://twitter.com/David_Leavitt/status/866820610869137412?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nydailynews.com%2Fnews%2Fnational%2Fman-manchester-tweets-denounced-media-outlets-article-1.3187158
Why don’t terrorism trolls think before they tweet?