Science & Tech
Caitlin Dewey
Jun 09, 2016
In the midst of Hillary Clinton’s victory speech on Tuesday night, the writer and Democratic strategist Laura Olin tweeted a brilliant piece of “tiny emoji art” to celebrate the historic nature of Clinton’s presumptive nomination.
It was retweeted and liked a combined 8,000 times.
And then - predictably! - it was stolen.
Not by just anyone, mind you: In the hours after Olin’s tweet celebrating a great moment for women went viral, it was apparently lifted, without credit, by a series of men. Many of them were themselves journalists or political operatives; several have since deleted their tweets after followers objected.
An exasperated Olin told the Washington Post'sIntersect blog:
They apparently had zero appreciation of the irony. Honestly I think it’s a wider anthropological sign of what the internet is like now and I’m resigned to that — but the white men appropriating it last night of all nights was a bit too much for me.
Washington Post ©
Update: An earlier version of this article showed a similar tweet posted by Judd Legum. Olin has made clear that she does not believe Legum stole her idea. Apologies to Legum for the confusion.
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