As rescuers and ordinary people fought to save their loved ones and strangers from the rubble in Nepal and elsewhere, twitterati fought to bring sanity back into the tweetosphere’s discussion on the tragedy.
It is unclear when the #SoulVultures trend started, but it continued for a while on Sunday morning. People objected to some twitter users “praying (preying)” for the victims of the tragedy for evangelical purposes. It may have started out with followers of Jesus,
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only hope for Nepal. Praying for lives to be changed through the hope of a Redeemer amidst this disaster.
— Evan Wood (@evanwood777) April 26, 2015but soon became a three-way slugfest involving Christianity, Islam and Hinduism, with followers of all three faiths arguing about which gods / their followers was best suited to save Nepalis (and others including Indians)
They came, They saw poor & helpless, They converted them to Christianity. #SoulVultures
— 0mar Abdullah (@abdullah_0mar) April 26, 2015 Bajrang dal should send volunteers to Nepal who can take the thukai gospel to #SoulVultures
— रोता हुआ भूतनाथ (@bhootnath) April 26, 2015 Dear #SoulVultures do learn frm Sikhs. Gurdwaras feeding thousands of homeless ppl across the US and Europe. They don't talk of religion.
— Dr Neelu Goswami (@NeelakshiGswm) April 26, 2015 Christianity is based on #SoulHarvest American Evangelists make it to new level by hunting on people in distress/Calamity #SoulVultures
— Anjali George (@AnjaliGorg) April 26, 2015 Islamists kill a body and their progeny brothers- #SoulVultures kill a soul....no difference between these Abrahamics
— आलोक भट्ट (@alok_bhatt) April 25, 2015Amidst such messages many twitter users tried to keep the attention focused on the tragedy, and its non-discrimination in terms of its victims, while underscoring that the earthquake affected needed tangible help more than prayers.
Hi #JesusFreak @calebwilds , Nepal desperately needs tents , food , medicine right now. NOT ur stupid gospel #SoulVultures
— Din Dayal (@himanshugo) April 26, 2015 There's an earthquake & we have Hindu & Christian organisations moving for the kill. https://t.co/iBnrNWTo7F #soulvultures #NepalQuake
— Farzana Versey (@farzana_versey) April 26, 2015 Going by their theory, no Christian should ever die accidentally/due to a natural calamity, but then idiocy knows no heights. #SoulVultures
— Mohit (@sailorsmoon) April 25, 2015 If #NepalEarthquake could've been stopped with gospel, Hurricane Katrina could've been averted chanting Om. Bloody nonsense. #SoulVultures
— Abhijit Majumder (@abhijitmajumder) April 26, 2015 @BabaGlocal Using Nepal disaster to spread the gospel of Christ or message of Allah is wrong. Holds true for Modi chalisa as well.
— AnantaVijaya (@Paashupat) April 26, 2015Often in humour lies profound clarity. As Twitter parody account of Salman Rushdie tweeted:
RSS. Jamat-ud-Dawah. Christian evangelicals. Helpful in a crisis. Rest of the time creating a crisis.
— RushdieExplainsIndia (@RushdieExplains) April 26, 2015