Twitter Suspends Conservative Luminary Instapundit UPDATE: Reinstated

UPDATE AT END OF ARTICLE. Twitter’s censorship of conservative views took one step further down the road of left-wing totalitarianism with the overnight suspension of Instapundit, the author and University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds.

Reynolds posted Thursday morning his reaction to being suspended. His comments are at the end if this article.

glenn-reynolds
Glenn Reynolds – the founder of Instapundit

Reynolds is a columnist for USA Today and hosts his popular blog at PJ Media.

Instapundit had gotten grief from SJWs Wednesday night after he posted “Run them down” in response to photos of Charlotte rioters who were blocking traffic on a freeway and menacing drivers putting them in fear for their lives.

“WTF—> Twitter suspends Glenn Reynolds @instapundit “

instapundit-run-them-down-twitchy
Screen image via Twitchy.

This writer responded Wednesday night in support of Instapundit’s opinion beofre his account was suspended. (FYI, in case I get suspended too.)

“@rickhasen @instapundit Why should we endure terror? I hit gas pedal when Black guys tried to carjack me in DC. Gave pedestrian ride on hood”

Instapundit responded at his blog at PJ Media Thursday morning.

OPENED UP TWITTER TO SEE THIS:

instapundit-suspension-notice-twitter-pj-media

Can’t imagine why they’d do that, except that it seems to be happening to a lot of people for no obvious reason. It’s as if, despite assurances to the contrary, Twitter is out to silence voices it disagrees with or something.

UPDATE: Ah, it was about this tweet.

Sorry, blocking the interstate is dangerous, and trapping people in their cars is a threat. Driving on is self-preservation, especially when we’ve had mobs destroying property and injuring and killing people. But if Twitter doesn’t like me, I’m happy to stop providing them with free content.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Was just on Hugh Hewitt talking about this. Since Twitter won’t let me respond to — or even see — my critics, let me expand here.

I’ve always been a supporter of free speech and peaceful protest. I fully support people protesting police actions, and I’ve been writing in support of greater accountability for police for years.

But riots aren’t peaceful protest. And locking interstates and trapping people in their cars is not peaceful protest — it’s threatening and dangerous, especially against the background of people rioting, cops being injured, civilian-on-civilian shootings, and so on. I wouldn’t actually aim for people blocking the road, but I wouldn’t stop because I’d fear for my safety, as I think any reasonable person would.

“Run them down” perhaps didn’t capture this fully, but it’s Twitter, where character limits stand in the way of nuance.

Meanwhile, regarding Twitter: I don’t even know that this is why I was suspended, as I’ve heard nothing from Twitter at all. They tell users and investors that they don’t censor, but they seem awfully quick to suspend people on one side of the debate and, as people over at Twitchy note, awfully tolerant of outright threats on the other.”

Reynolds was responding to this tweet by WBTV-TV warning drivers of rioters taking over a freeway.

“LIVE NOW: Protesters on I-277 stopping traffic and surrounding vehicles. AVOID. Watch live » http://3wb.tv/1TGw8DS #KeithLamontScott”

Another photo posted by WBYV showed rioters had taken over a vehicle and were jumping on it.

“LIVE: Mayor Roberts speaking with us live on air now. http://3wb.tv/1TGw8DS #KeithLamontScott #Charlotte”

The station also posted video.

“VIDEO: People surrounding vehicles driving along 277 near College Street. #CharlotteProtest #KeithLamontScott #Charlotte”

UPDATE: Instapundit has been reinstated on the condition the offending tweet be taken down by Reynolds.

https://twitter.com/instapundit/status/778958882198683648

“Twitter has unblocked my account on condition of deleting the offending tweet. I’ve done so, but it’s here::

Instapundit then went on a Twitter tear showing the horribles from the Charlotte riots–focusing on innocents caught in traffic and attacked by rioters including this retweet:

https://twitter.com/TweetBrettMac/status/778497374922485761

“Female trucker gets mobbed by Charlotte thugs. Fears for her life. Calls the news and gives horrifying interview.”

Photo of author
Kristinn Taylor has contributed to The Gateway Pundit for over ten years. Mr. Taylor previously wrote for Breitbart, worked for Judicial Watch and was co-leader of the D.C. Chapter of FreeRepublic.com. He studied journalism in high school, visited the Newseum and once met David Brinkley.

You can email Kristinn Taylor here, and read more of Kristinn Taylor's articles here.

 

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