When US First Lady Michelle Obama appeared in a picture supporting the 200 schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria, she was praised for taking a stand against Boko Haram. But others quickly subverted her message and turned it into an anti-drone campaign.
Michelle Obama appeared in the viral image last week, holding up a sign that said “#Bring Back Our Girls.” The hashtag quickly spread online, hitting home with an online audience that had read about the tragic kidnapping of the schoolgirls by a radical Islamist group.
Her contribution to the ongoing conversation did not go unnoticed by critics of President Obama. Twitter users either photoshopped the image or held their own sign, posting pictures that raised various concerns on topics ranging from American conservatism, sports, and drones.
The Britain-based non-profit Bureau of Investigative Journalism announced earlier this year that, in the five years that Obama has been in office, at least 2,400 people across the Middle East have been killed by drones. Even critics admit that many of those may have been militants, although the strikes have unleashed unimaginable devastation on civilians and their families – particularly in Pakistan, where drones have greatly contributed to anti-American sentiment.
