The Week on TwitterTopical

The Week on Twitter: Making a Murderer, Tamir Rice, & Lemmy

By Jade Hayden

This week, protests continued over US law enforcement’s involvement in the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice, Joan Burton fell in some water, and everybody in the whole entire world watched Making a Murderer. Twitter also mourned the death of Motörhead frontman Lemmy, and celebrated the arrival of 2016.

US police not held accountable for the shooting of #TamirRice

On November 22nd last year, police officers in Cleveland, Ohio responded to a call that there was a “guy” brandishing a weapon in Cudell Park. The “guy” was 12 year old Tamir Rice, and the weapon he was carrying was a toy gun. Officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback arrived at the scene and within a few seconds, shot Rice dead. Later, they would claim that the boy had failed to raise his hands.

Rice’s death quickly became synonymous with the shootings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, the suspicious death of Sandra Bland, and the entirety of the #BlackLivesMatter movement in America. This week, it was reported that Loehmann, who shot Rice, would not be indicted for his actions. Prosecutor Timothy McGinty ruled that the shooting was a result of miscommunication, as the dispatcher of the 911 call had not provided the two men with information regarding Rice’s age, and the fact that the original caller had specified the boy’s gun was “probably fake.”

Following the verdict, hundreds gathered outside McGinty’s home to protest his decision. Many more also took to Twitter and other social media platforms to express their disgust regarding the handling of the case, and the hundreds of others just like it around the country. In 2015, 1,134 young black men were killed by police officers in America. That’s five times more than white men of the same age.

https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/682363818870177794

Motörhead frontman #Lemmy Kilmister dies, aged 70

On December 28th, Motörhead announced on their official Facebook page that their frontman Lemmy Kilmister had passed away. The band stated that Lemmy had been diagnosed with aggressive cancer just two days before, and had died in his home in Los Angeles.

Following the report of his death, fans and musicians alike took to social media to share grievances, express condolences, and to remember his life. Alice Cooper praised Lemmy for “always creating and redefining hard rock,” and said that he would “truly miss him out on the road.”

Netflix’s #MakingaMurderer dominates Twitter trends over Christmas

Making a Murderer is a ten part Netflix documentary series. It’s also the greatest thing you will ever watch. Filmed over the course of ten years, the series follows the life of Steven Avery – a man who was wrongfully accused of raping and attempting to murder a woman in 1985. Avery spent 18 years in prison for this crime, due to the incompetence of Manitowoc County Sheriff’s department in Wisconsin.

Upon the discovery of new DNA evidence, Avery is eventually released. He begins the process of suing the Sheriff’s department and attempts to rebuild his life. A little over a year later, Auto Trader photographer Teresa Halbach is reported missing after visiting Avery’s auto salvage. All of this happens in the first two episodes of the series. What follows are months of murder trials, false testimonies, forced confessions, asshole lawyers, and the all encompassing question as to whether Steven Avery had been framed for the murder of Teresa Halbach.

Making a Murderer incited some fairly strong reactions from just about everybody who watched it. Painting a frank picture of the abuses and corruption at work within the US’s criminal justice system, the series led to tears, confusion, shock, and lots and lots of anger. I can confirm. I watched it twice.

The docuseries also led to the establishment of a pretty strange and yet entirely warranted fanbase surrounding Steven Avery’s defense lawyers Jerome Buting and Dean Strang. These guys are absolute geniuses, and they deserve every single bit of praise they get. However, it does appear that many viewers (myself included) are enthralled by more than just their intellect.

Especially Strang. Strang is bae.

#JoanBurton becomes #JoanRivers 

On Thursday, Joan Burton decided to give us all a little New Year’s Eve present and fell out of a boat in Kilkenny. While visiting a flood site following Storm Frank or Storm Desmond or Storm Whatever One We’re Even On Now, the Tanaiste toppled from a canoe-type thing, and everybody laughed. She was grand, so we were allowed to laugh. It was fine.

https://twitter.com/deric_hartigan/status/682865619247718400

#2016 arrives #NYE2016

It’s the New Year. We made it through 2015. Go us. On Thursday it was New Year’s Eve, so lots of people were tweeting about their plans to drink, drink again, do a countdown, reflect on how anti-climatic that had actually just been, drink some more, and probably pass out somewhere in a pair of €2 shop sparkly 2016 glasses.

https://twitter.com/obrienmedia/status/683019892946153473

… Not Holly Carpenter though. The model, former Miss Ireland, and Herald columnist took to the Indo instead, where she recounted her New Year’s Eve adventures using some truly exhilarating prose. Tales of “amazing” atmosphere, her boyfriend Danny O’Reilly who was obviously playing with The Coronas who were headling the 3arena that night, and tapas that works really, really well if you’ve got a bit of a crowd were enough to make any reader jealous. I know I was. I love tapas.

The people of the internet enjoyed Carpenter’s article too. They really, really did.

Featured image via Netflix

 

Jade Hayden 144 posts 0 comments

Jade Hayden has an MA in journalism, a degree in English, and a house rabbit who sleeps in her bed sometimes. You'll often find her wearing glasses, fixing her fringe, and complaining about the amount of time she spends on public transport. Jade is also the editor of HeadStuff's topical section, and she'd love if you sent your submissions over to [email protected].

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