ASU instructor: ‘Shut down' Trump’s Twitter account to combat hate speech
He argued that this would help combat "hate speech."
An instructor at Arizona State University took to Twitter to suggest that Trump needed to be "shut down" on the platfrom.
An Arizona State University instructor has called for Twitter to shut down President Donald Trump’s account to combat hate speech online.
James Garcia, an instructor at ASU who teaches humanitarian arts and culture, tweeted out an article from the New York Times in late December, titled, “Countering Extremism One Click at a Time,” while calling for Twitter to close the president’s account.
“One great way to counter hate speech would be for Twitter to shut down @realDonaldTrump’s Twitter account,” Garcia tweeted.
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The instructor also stated that he considered himself a “free speech champion” before continuing, “but if we cannot yell fire in a crowded movie theater the president should not allowed [sic] to encourage violence on Twitter.”
Garcia, who is also the editor of Vanguardia America and a columnist for the Arizona Mirror, also expressed disdain at a Gallup poll in December, when the poll suggested that former President Barack Obama and Trump were tied for “most admirable men.”
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“No story makes me think that Trump could win re-election than this one,” Garcia wrote. “Are we really living in a country that is this divided?”
Last May, Garcia wrote a column for the Arizona Mirror suggesting that the “enablers” of Trump and his administration should be “shamed.”
In his article, the instructor suggested that those in the administration such as former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders; advisor KellyAnne Conway; and Attorney General William Barr had “volunteered to serve as Trump’s enablers” and that they should be publicly shamed “a la Nixon and McCarthy for having come down on the wrong side of history.”
Campus Reform reached out to Garcia for comment about his tweet but he did not respond in time for publication.
An ASU spokesperson told Campus Reform, “James Garcia is a faculty associate with ASU. He was not acting in his capacity as an ASU employee when he posted his opinion online.”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article identified Garcia as a “professor.” He is an instructor, as he teaches courses but does not hold a doctorate degree in his field.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @JesseStiller3
