About
Jihad Barbie refers to a photo meme started when Holly Fisher, a conservative women living in West Virginia, posted a picture of herself holding a gun and a bible which resembled a photo of a Reem Riyasha, a female suicide bomber also holding a book and a gun.
Origin
On July 1st, 2014, Holly Fisher, who describes herself as “Christian. Wife of an Army combat-infantry vet. Mom of 3.” in her Twitter bio, tweeted[2] a picture of herself in front of a Hobby Lobby holding a Chick-Fil-A cup and wearing a pro-life T-shirt with a caption which read, “ATTENTIONLIBERALS: do NOT look at this picture. Your head will most likely explode.” Within a week the tweet gained over 2,000 retweets and over 3,000 favorites.
The image spread on Facebook with the title “How to Make a Liberal’s Head Explode,” and once Fisher noticed its spread[1] on July 3rd, it had gained over 20,000 likes.
On July 4th, Fisher tweeted out a photo of herself holding a bible and a gun standing in front of an American flag. In less than a week the tweet gained over 1,000 retweets and over 2,000 favorites.
Spread
The same day she tweeted the picture, Fisher began receiving a photo featuring suicide bomber Reem Riyasha in which she is holding a gun and a book and standing in front of a flag like Fisher. In a tweet acknowledging receiving the pictures she dismisses the comparison.
On July 7th, Fisher tweeted an example of one of her photos edited which called her a jihad barbie, joking about the nickname.
The same day Heavy[3] published a post titled “Holly Fisher: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know,” which reported Fisher had received death threats because of the images. The same day Slate[5] published a post titled “Defiant Hobby Lobby Supporter Inadvertently Recreates Iconic Gaza Jihadist Image,” which reported on the side by side image of Fisher and Riyasha. The following day Fisher and the meme were featured in posts published on Buzzfeed, UpRoxx[4] and the Daily Mail.[6]
Notable Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1]Buzzfeed – West Virginia Mom Was Turned Into “Jihad Barbie” Meme After Posing With A Gun On The Fourth Of July
[2]Twitter – Holly Fisher
[3]Heavy – Holly Fisher: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
[4]UpRoxx – Meet The Hobby Lobby Mega-Troll Who’s Making ‘Liberal Heads Explode’
[5]Slate – Defiant Hobby Lobby Supporter Inadvertently Recreates Iconic Gaza Jihadist Image
[6]Daily Mail – Conservative mother-of-three whose Twitter posts have made ‘liberal heads explode’: Female gun and bible enthusiast becomes web sensation