Jeb Bush’s Gun Tweet Backfires
The US Republican Presidential candidate Jeb Bush is pro-gun rights and behind in the polls, so when he purchased his first firearm, he had probably hoped to receive support on social media.
The former Florida governor’s new handgun, inscribed with his name on the slide, has been re-tweeted more than 19,000 times and met with widespread mockery around the world.
Bush tweeted a picture of his gun alongside the word “America”, seeking to burnish his pro-gun credentials and patriotism as his campaign moves into the conservative state of South Carolina.
But if the USA is defined by its relationship to firearms, Twitter provided the answer for how best to represent other countries across the world.
British comedian Joe Lycett put forward this entry for the UK.
Mike Landers suggested that pies and curry would better represent some of Britain’s cities.
Professor Herman van de Wernfhorst , a sociology professor from the University of Amsterdam suggested this for the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, Ingo Bousa from Bristol thought that Denmark could present a more peaceful interpretation of Jeb Bush’s tweet.
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But as the rest of the world gently mocked Jeb Bush, some conservative supporters in America showed their appreciation by tweeting pictures of handguns.
Science fiction writer John Joseph Adams decided that if his country was going to be defined by one weapon, then he wanted to highlight the impact of other weapons on fictional cultures.
“I never thought that my most re-tweeted tweet would consist of one word, a Twitter handle and a picture of a lightsaber” he wrote after his picture of the Star Wars memorabilia was shared more than 1,700 times.
Other science fiction fans were quick to follow Adams’s lead. Lisa Morton from Washington DC tweeted a Star Trek phaser.
Others thought the Doctor should get involved.
Or that Jeb Bush could use some magical assistance with his campaign.
Jeb Bush is pulling out all the stops to revive his flagging campaign to become the Republican presidential nominee, with his brother, former President George W Bush, joining him in on the campaign trail in South Carolina.
He can only hope that the online reaction to his tweet will help help him catch up with frontrunner Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who won the New Hampshire and Iowa contests respectively.
-bbc