Facebook Finally Removes Page that Urges ‘Crazed Shooters’ to Target Conservatives

Sheesh, folks, it’s not that hard.  Treat others like you want to be treated.  That means that Republicans, treat Democrats well.  Democrats, treat Republicans well.  You don’t have to agree in order to be civil.  In fact, you can disagree passionately without resorting to violence.  In fact, that’s a pretty bright line.  When you are openly calling for violence against various groups, you are wrong.  Period.  Full stop.  We should all agree about that.

Facebook recently said it was going to crack down on hate speech…  but that “crack down” was not apparent when a page called “Milkshakes Against the Republican Party” encouraged its members to be violent against NRA members and the GOP.  One post read, “Remember the shooting at the Republican baseball game? One of those should happen every week.”

Well, at least their vitriol and hate is right out there in the open, for all to see.  Seems like it’d be easy for the social media giant to take this down.  But Facebook allowed this content to stay. Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Fl.) asked Facebook official Monika Bickert about this during a recent Congressional hearing.

Gaetz asked, “If a page post repeated content that threatens violence and that references the shooting of Republicans at a baseball game, why would you not remove the page?”

Bickert responded, “We remove pages or groups or profiles when there is a certain threshold of violation that has been met.”

That’s a pretty lackluster response, when Facebook has been really quick on the draw to ban various conservative posts… even mainstream conservative posts that are not over-the-line.  Eventually, Facebook removed the page, but only after dragging their feet.

Rep. Gaetz said, “I am glad Facebook swiftly removed this offensive page; while I unconditionally support the First Amendment, inciting violence against others due to their political affiliation is not Constitutionally-protected speech.”

“While removing this page was a small step forward to making Facebook a safer place, bigger questions remain,” he added.  It remains to be seen if Facebook can crack down on all speech that attempts to incite violence.

Yes, even if the violence is against Republicans.

Image Credit: Stock Catalog on Flickr

Hat Tip: Independence Journal Review