A Christian mother from West Virginia is receiving equal parts hate and support for her controversial views online and is now the subject of a widely shared Internet meme.
Holly Fisher is a newly minted Internet celebrity famous for speaking out about her political beliefs about guns, abortion, health care and other hot button political issues. Nicknamed “Holly Hobby Lobby” for her support for the the Supreme Court’s controversial decision last week, Fisher is now the face of a Twitter meme many are calling the “American Taliban.”
The image making the rounds on Twitter shows Fisher standing in front of the American flag holding a gun and a copy of the Holy Bible. (Fisher herself posted the photo.)
In the meme, that photo is side-by-side with an image of Sherafiyah Lewthwaite, an international terrorist known as the White Widow who is part of the Al-Shabaab Islamic militant group. The meme, which shows Lewthwaite in a similar stance while holding a gun and a copy of the Quran, says: “Explain the difference.”
Difference? I can kill you without having to kill myself...in a bikini...while eating bacon...and having a margarita. pic.twitter.com/Ru84BOU3kF
“My new nickname is "American Taliban" it seems. You know how I know the lefties don't really think I'm a terrorist? They hate me,” Fisher wrote on Monday in response to the backlash.
In other tweets, Fisher wrote to her 34,000+ followers: “Jihad Barbie. That means they think I'm pretty, right?” and, “I'm not a terrorist, but my husband has killed a few. #ftw.”
Pundits like Michael Stone, an atheist blogger for faith-site Patheos, called Fisher “the new face of American Taliban.”
“Perhaps the only thing more dangerous and destructive than religious extremism is violent religious extremism cloaked in the mask of pseudo patriotism,” he wrote. “While Holly Hobby Lobby is just a social media clown out for attention, she represents a dangerous strand of Christian fundamentalism that enjoys flirting with, if not threatening, real violence.”
Other commentators, like Charles C. W. Cooke of The National Review, say Fisher is just expressing her views, as is her right.
“The woman on the left is a peaceful American citizen with a husband in the military. She has never killed anybody, and nor does she have any desire to,” he wrote. “The reason that you know her name is that she has become a minor political celebrity for her outspoken support of a Supreme Court decision that upheld the rule of law against the intrusion of the executive branch.”
The Charleston, West Virginia, resident seems to enjoy goading her critics. After the Supreme Court’s ruling to allow for-profit companies to deny birth control on religious grounds, Fisher posed smiling in front of a Hobby Lobby store, wearing a pro-life T-shirt and holding a Chick-fil-A cup.
On the receiving end of personal attacks, she retorted: “Isn't it funny that the people who call me fat, ugly, a whore, stupid ... a bitch, etc. are the same ones whining about the #WarOnWomen?”
The Inquisitr reported Fisher began to receive death threats as well as comments like “give this b---h an unwanted pregnancy.”
This is not Fisher’s first time in the spotlight. In June, the mother of three and wife of an Army combat-infantry vet vented on Twitter about losing her baby’s cardiologist, blaming Obamacare for her loss.
“Just got a call saying my 10m/o(born w/2 heart conditions)is covered under NO ped. cardiologists due to our new shit plan. Thx, #Obamacare!” she wrote.
“Hey @BarackObama, thanks to you I got my new insurance plan & it takes away all of my baby's heart doctors. Should I wait for your check?” she tweeted to the president.
A third tweet with a photo of her daughter read: “Thanks, @BarackObama, for causing her to lose her cardiologist. Her name is Norah, not that you care.”
“@HollyRFisher @BarackObama not his fault. U should get a job and pay for it yourself instead of taking selfies all day. I feel bad for u tbh— Skyler White,” one tweet from Twitter user @TweetsSkyler read.
Fisher told Western Journalism that she’s not bothered by all of the attention, though many close to her are troubled by her recent fame.
“My friends are shocked. I’ve got a lot of texts asking if I’m OK and people in disbelief about the things people say and how well I take it,” she said. “It really doesn’t bother me that some coward is hiding behind their keyboard thinking of rude things to say to some stranger.”
