Dzhokhar Tsarnaev And Twitter: A Cyber-Match For The Ages?
Last week's Boston Marathon bombing devastated the city of Boston as three people and more than 150 others were injured during the attack. The city remained relatively quiet until three days later, when it is believed that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan led police on a chase around Boston, eventually leading to Dzhokhar's arrest and Tamerlan's death.
Now people are turning to the social networking website Twitter to not only get a sense of what was going through one of the suspected terrorist's mind, but also to voice their own opinions of what has happened.
Dzhokhar had a Twitter account that he would update periodically, and it has seen an incredible growth in its number of followers ever since his name was first revealed in connection to the Boston marathon bombing. While the manhunt for Dzhokhar was still on Friday at noon, his Twitter account gained almost 20,000 followers in the span of an hour.
Dzhokhar did not have too much to say on Twitter around the time of the Boston Marathon, though several of his actions on the site give some insight into his mental state at that time. One tweet that he had favorited mere hours before the bombing came from the account of Steezy_Be_Eazy, and read:
"The ultimate sacrifice is within you, The battle within is defined by the word jihad"
Dzhokhar's final activity on Twitter came with his own tweet, written several hours after the Boston Marathon bombing. It is clear he was not worried about the impending consequences of his actions:"I'm a stress free kind of guy"
Twitter has also been a vehicle used by many to voice their support of Dzhokhar. Some have tweeted about their odd attraction to the suspected terrorist, with musings such as the following:
"I can't be the only one who finds the suspected bomber to be sexy, can I?"
People have also taken to the social networking site to espouse their opinion that Dzhokhar and his brother Tamerlan were the victims of false identification, and are completely innocent. Conspiracy theorists have been quick to blame the government, citing the Boston Marathon bombing as a false flag operation carried out by the FBI. One movement that is gaining traction is the Twitter hashtag #FreeJahar:
"There is more proof of the FBI planning this than there is of the bros" #FreeJahar @FreeTsarnaev
Though there is much to still be debated about the events surrounding the Boston Marathon bombing and the Tsarnaev brothers' role in it, one things is for certain: Twitter will have an opinion whether you like it or not.
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