It's hard to tell what the next horror to appear on the internet will be.
On Saturday, April 24, that horror was a giant wall sticker of Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, naked except for BDSM gear with a PROUD BOY tattoo across his abdomen.
The sticker—which was posted on the side of the St. Mary's Strip in San Antonio, Texas—was spread across social media where some found it ironically hilarious while others feel it is insensitive to the leather bear community.
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Some online assumed the sticker was not meant to "kink-shame" or make fun of people with bodies similar to Cruz's who engage in a BDSM subculture.
They felt it was intended to mock Cruz's long history of anti-LGBTQ+ actions.
Others, however, felt the mocking photo would have a harmful effect on many innocent people even if that wasn't the intention.
Others still only offered up some typical, Twitter-style snark.
There were some Twitter users who understood what the image was trying to accomplish.
But they still felt it was using an LGBTQ+ identity as a way of shaming a heterosexual cisgender male.
But some people saw no issues with the image.
Was the giant sticker a funny dunk on Ted Cruz or kink and fat-shaming homophobia?
The internet wasn't sure.
In these complicated times, it's occasionally hard to sort out the message in online culture.
Sometimes the best we can do is to be aware of the harm we may be doing to others and try our best to avoid repeating our mistakes.
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