Gun Girl Mis-Tweets

I’ve chosen a recent tweet from a controversial public figure. While she is not a ‘qualified’ public face, she is popular for her stances on gun control and Trump; she is often referred to as “gun girl” after openly carrying an automatic weapon at Kent State for her graduation photos. Kaitlin Bennett’s ethos simply comes from being inclined to provoke liberal minds, as all of her posts are pro-left and supportive of the Trump administration.

This specific tweet is confusing on many levels as the actual information goes directly against what she claims to support. This is explored in the replies as people try to logically break down and re-explain to her and her audience what exactly she just tweeted.

The timing of this tweet directly tied into government shutdowns and border control, playing off of the outrage at left/republican politicians. However, the statement actually suggests that the capitalist system that keeps wages running in a circle through taxes is ineffective (“Their paychecks come from someone else’s paychecks. What a world we live in where we accept that”) and that borders should be open (“#AbolishtheTSA”). While the timing of the tweet works in relevancy, Bennett misread her supporting audience and somehow became a radical. Of course, this trend did and does not continue, simply a mis-tweet on her end.

One thing to note about Twitter is that often users’ credibility comes from the simple interaction and spreading of a tweet. The act of retweeting something is a rhetorical move, because it spreads the information to other people and semi-endorses the tweet. It builds the tweeter’s ethos.

While many people liked (10,165), replied (32k), and retweeted (2,218) this tweet, I personally noted something else developing. There has been a push for people to stop directly retweeting posts, and instead ‘quote’ tweeting them. This decreases the number of actual retweets and thusly discredits her ethos as a public figure. It also makes the quote retweeter’s commentary the focus of the tweet rather than the original.

Overall, I feel this particular tweet was ineffective kairotically and through active choices to lessen her presence, Bennett’s platform will falter.