4 Types of People Tweeting About #HobbyLobby

As you might expect, the Internet exploded with rage after the controversial Hobby Lobby Supreme Court ruling was handed down this morning. Which is understandable: denying women access to birth control under certain employers will do that to Twitter. The decision, which was split 5-4, ruled that closely-held companies do not have to provide birth control coverage to employees based on religious beliefs. Hobby Lobby, owned by vocally Christian owners, hadchallenged this mandate in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. Under the Affordable Care Act, Hobby Lobby was required to provide contraceptive coverage.

It's probably unsurprising that this is a highly controversial issue, and Twitter exploded with arguments from supporters and opponents. And, of course, there were the few stragglers in between who either:

A) Decide to chime in to the conversation anyway (ill-advised), orB) Embrace and publicize the fact that they have no idea what news is, nor do they care (still disappointing, but better).

We've broken down the four main groups of people you found espousing micro-blogged wisdom this morning, for better or for worse. Oh, and the people who took the opportunity to wax lyrical about their favorite products at Hobby Lobby, because why not!

People who support SCOTUS' decision

Oh, yeah. They exist.

People who oppose SCOTUS' decision

If you woke up with an impending sense of doom; are trying to figure out the best way to get fan mail to Ruth Bader Ginsberg; or are a woman

or someone who supports women as humans; you might've Tweeted within this group today.

People who can't understand why Scalia hasn't tweeted them back

If you've been waiting around for a Supreme Court justice to reply to your praise or criticism, maybe close down your Twitter account. There were a handful of people who actually thought they were tweeting directly at SCOTUS, rather than the very awesome SCOTUSblog, this morning. The Internet is hard. Meanwhile, some fantastic human over at SCOTUSblog handled it flawlessly.

People who have absolutely no idea what is going on

If you thought #HobbyLobby was trending because of the 50 percent price reduction in picture frames, this is probably you. Bless your heart.

I'm convinced that one day Twitter will be a case study for burgeoning sociologists, or perhaps even psychiatrists. It provides an easy overview of every single pocket of humanity, united under #hashtags, and at times those who have no idea what is going on. Today's 140-character bickering was no different, representing the microcosm of news literacy and political ideology all on the same feed.

Of course, there's always intelligent conversation to be found in the Twitterverse on both sides of the argument, but when emotions run high and you have a nice, convenient screen to hide behind, the jabs can be brutal.

Image: Flickr/Michael Coghlan