Refugee Tweets from iPhone That His Free Food Paid for by U.S. Tax Dollars Isn’t Good Enough, But also ‘Not Complaining’

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In: CULTURE, FOREIGN POLICY, IMMIGRATION, MILITARY

The New York Post and others have noticed along with us that a refugee from Afghanistan was being trolled on Twitter. The NYP claimed he was being harassed. Hamed Ahmadi posted a picture of some fruit, chicken, and what appeared to be some slices of bread that were mostly off-screen.

We aren’t able to independently verify whether or not some of the food had been already eaten. Although we sympathize with anyone around the world who is experiencing true hunger and/or starvation, this tweet may have been a little off base.

Many in the U.S. have asked the government not to bring refugees at all. Nevertheless, many have been coming to the United States from Afghanistan. This comes after the botched withdrawal of troops by President Biden that led to the quick and easy takeover by the Taliban. Ahmadi, who, according to his Twitter bio, is a “Blogger & Writer at iPSO Afghanistan” and “translator”, tweeted the photo saying:

“Not complaining but this is what I got last night for dinner and the next meal is 12 hours later. Refugee life might be safe but never easy & favorable. Fort bliss El Paso Texas.”

Many are saying that he’s still grateful to be a refugee but that he is just highlighting that it’s not all it may be cracked up to be to those who haven’t made it to the United States. Others may see it as just complaining and potential ungrateful behavior for someone who hasn’t even been in the United States for that long.

Some in the replies to his tweet even took it a step further, claiming in so many words that although the United States welcomed him in and his feeding him for free with hard-earned taxpayer money, he has a right to complain still. One example of that:

Ahmadi apparently saw the New York Post story about him and retweeted it without a lot of context. It’s hard to tell if he is playing the victim, or not sure what to think at this point. We’re sure he’s glad to be here to some degree, but he may want to rethink his approach, as many on Twitter got the wrong idea if indeed he is grateful. Some examples of that:

Well known news and Twitter pundit Amy Tarkanian tweeted:

“I was unable to reach a homeless veteran to ask how they like their free meals and free housing because they don’t get those things. Also they don’t have iPhones.”

The New York Post attempted to add some more context to the story:

Hamed Ahmadi, 28, a Fulbright semi-finalist, tweeted the photo showing some anemic chicken slices and fruit to highlight the unglamorous life he now faced as a refugee.

“The point of that tweet was not … to be complaining, to be very critical,” Mr. Ahmadi told The Independent. “I was just describing a situation of Afghan refugees that are in the situation that they never really wanted to be in.”

Unfortunately, Twitter isn’t the place for nuance and he found himself quickly inundated by trolls telling him to “go back to Afghanistan.”

“If I had more space [on Twitter], I would have added more explanation – because I wanted to say that this is the refugee life. And we need to be patient,” Ahmadi said.

Navy veteran and congressional candidate Jarome Bell was not happy to see it:

Ian MacDonald
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