“I’ve been banned from Facebook over a dozen times in the past two years, all for exercising my Fifth Amendment right, which covers freedom of speech and the right to bear arms,” Westmoreland said. “No one’s gonna take away my guns or my voice. What kind of world do we live in where you can’t share thoughts and plans to overthrow our local government by force when we all know they are hiding the truth?”
It is unclear what “truths” Westmoreland feels are being withheld by county school board members, or whether she is aware that neither of those rights fall under the Fifth Amendment. She also declined to say whether she’s aware that Instagram is owned by Meta, the same multinational technology conglomerate that owns and operates Facebook.
But Westmoreland says she believes the best way to create change is to voice vendettas and personal drama on social media for everyone to see — and now Instagram will be her chosen platform for what she calls activism.
“They say a picture is worth a thousand words,” said Westmoreland. “Just imagine what I can do once I figure out how to create reels on Instagram. There’s no way the school PTO and the School Board can censor my public input anymore.”
However, well before her most recent Facebook ban, Westmorland had an extensive history of retribution and using social media to ruin lives. In September 2021, following an argument with her previous boyfriend, Ray Gotz, Westmoreland got him fired from a job he’d held for 22 years by posting a photo of Gotz smoking what appeared to be a marijuana cigarette in his own home. And earlier in 2022, Westmoreland had a local bartender fired after she recorded a “hostile incident” at a local bar.
“All I asked the bartender to do was tell me who she voted for,” said Westmoreland. “I told her one answer gets you a tip. The other gets you a dip. And when she told me to get the hell out of the bar, she had no idea I was recording her. It’s unbelievable how young people behave at jobs these days.”
Westmoreland says it’s important for more locals to stand up and protect the Keys she knows, loves and has called home for fewer than three years.
“I moved here in 2019 and I’m local like so many others who just want to protect our slice of paradise,” Westmoreland said.
She is currently awaiting reinstatement on Facebook so she can make a final post about her move to Instagram. In addition, she plans to voice her displeasure with a meme aimed at the company’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, which she says will “definitely get his attention.”
