Take note, male politicians who can’t help but impede reproductive health care for women: if you make highly controversial decisions by trying to police the ladies’ lady parts, then you might as well go ahead and just start posting targets on your public Facebook page. You may have the support of your local constituents who elected you to office, but that support isn’t likely to be duplicated across the entirety of the online constituency. Just ask Sam Brownback and Rick Perry.
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, he who need not read bills before signing them, experienced the wrath of “sarcasm bombing” last week when people took to his Facebook page to sardonically seek the advice of Brownback regarding medical questions about women’s reproductive health. The public outrage was sparked by Brownback’s commitment to blindly signing a bill that would implement an array of invasive medical practices to women seeking abortion.
Now Texas Governor Rick Perry, one-time presidential hopeful and another noted non-owner of a uterus, is the next politician to feel the social media backlash for his insistence on cutting federal funds to women’s health programs in Texas because some of those clinics are run by Planned Parenthood. Similar to what happened on Brownback’s page, his Facebook page filled with “sarcasm bombings” consisting of women posting mordant queries to the governor about issues related to women’s health.
For instance, a recent post (and by recent I mean his most recent post, which is dated January 19) that includes a photo of Perry with the text, “Anita [his wife] and I thank you for your support,” commenters shared their gratitude:
In another post with the message, “Can we get 15,000 LIKES to defeating Barack Obama?!” commenters expressed their like as such:
Seriously, these politicians on Facebook need to hire some handlers who will warn them that, yes, other people will be able to post to their page and, yes, some people may express their protest by taking over your comment section.