About

#Benghazi is a hashtag coined and used by American conservatives on Twitter who believe the Obama administration ignored calls for extra security personnel at the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, prior to the deadly attacks by Islamic militants in September 2012. The hashtag is also used ironically by American liberals to mock right-wing conspiracy theorists, often in the form of a parody acrostic poem using the word “Benghazi.”

Origin

On September 11th, 2012, a series of anti-American demonstrations and violent attacks took place around the world, in response to Innocence of Muslims, an anti-Islam film allegedly produced and directed by Nakoula Basseley Nakoula that went viral upon its upload onto YouTube in July. Amidst the chaos on the streets in Benghazi, the capital of Libya, at least two U.S. diplomatic compounds were raided by Islamic militants, resulting in the deaths of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith, as well as two C.I.A contractors, and injuries of four American and Libyan personnels. While the attacks were initially reported as unfortunate casualties in connection to the violent protests against the film, further investigations determined that the attacks had been premeditated before the demonstrations began.

In the following days, U.S. State Department officials were subsequently criticized for failing to increase security at the compounds prior to the attacks. Meanwhile on Twitter, conservatives began calling for the Obama administration to provide an explanation for failing to ramp up security, some of which accused officials of trying to cover up the tragedy with the hashtag #Benghazi.^[2][4]

Spread

On January 23rd, 2013, Hillary Clinton took responsibility for lapses in security as then the U.S. Secretary of State.^[5] On October 17th, Twitter user @SpreadButter^[3] posted an acrostic criticizing Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama using the word “Benghazi” (shown below). In the first year, the tweet gained over 580 favorites and 450 retweets. The tweet was widely mocked by liberals on Twitter, leading many to post parody versions of the acrostic.

On November 8th, Twitter user @JRehling^[7] posted a tweet poking fun at Republican outrage over Benghazi, gathering upwards of 410 retweets and 260 favorites (shown below).

On May 2nd, 2014, MSNBC^[6] aired a segment on the #Benghazi hashtag, claiming that it was widely used online by conservative conspiracy theorists. On May 20th, Vox^[1] published an article highlighting notable #Benghazi tweets mocking conservative Benghazi conspiracy theorists, including an acrostic parody by Twitter user Matt Binder (shown below).

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References