Social media is full of terrible people, bots, and misinformation; this is never more evident than during breaking news across the country. This misinformation creeps into our conversations about said events and the effects are troubling.
Let us use two recent major news stories to illustrate this point and how misinformation causes us to lose sight of what is actually important. The police shooting of Jacob Blake and the civilian shooting by Kyle Rittenhouse.
When the video of the Blake shooting started making the rounds, the message was that Blake was just there breaking up a fight. A classic case of wrong place, wrong time. We now know this is not true now (READ HERE), the police showed up because a woman called saying Blake was not supposed to be there. Prior to police showing up, the caller told dispatch that they did not think police still needed to come. It is possible that information will come out that he was breaking up a fight or checking in on his kids (another claim) but we do not know those details yet. They will come out. However, sharing claims, even if you have the right intention, which is addressing the question of police violence or if the shooting was justified, spreading potential misinformation takes away from the overarching message. It also gives potential ammo that the other side will most definitely try to use against the overarching message as well.
Police may have already been on the scene by the time the caller said police were no longer needed.
This is just the beginning of the false narratives that started to spread.
Before confirming why police showed up, people who wanted to justify the shooting started to share “information” about Blake and his criminal record, a long played out tactic that needs to end. I use “” because so much of the information shared was false too. Blake is not a child rapist, some of the charges in his history were dismissed, the “photos of him” as a child with a gun were fake, and there is no evidence he was armed with a knife, despite what the officers claimed as of Friday. The final claim may turn out to be true, but again, you cannot use this as part of your argument right now, as it remains a claim rather than fact. What we seem to know is that police showed up at about 5:13 p.m. and the announcement of “shots fired” occurred at about 5:15 p.m. All this misinformation clouds the situation and causes the goalposts to move. We lose focus on the real issue, which is the strategy people use when they; 1) do not want to admit any type of change is needed, and 2) refocusing you somewhere else will cause others and maybe even you to check out. Another way to describe it is a classic bait and switch.
The real question in this case, and the real question at the heart of so many of the police-involved shootings, is should the police have fired on Mr. Blake based on what happened that day. Not what happened months ago. This is what the movement and protests are about in the country. For a majority of the country and for the vast majority of those who have marched, protested, and spoke out, the issue is about stopping police brutality and reforming the group of people who are supposed to protect and serve us. It is not an anti-police movement; it is a pro-police reform movement. Are there groups of people who want no police at all? Sure, those people exist but they are the minority. Do not get too hung up on that because you will miss the forest through the trees and by doing so, you are reinforcing the status quo. We need a lot of reform, not just police, in this country if we are going to have real racial justice and equality, something that all of us should demand and fight for. Now to the teenager, who played dress up and showed up with a
The first question that comes to mind when people defend his action showing up with a giant gun to a hyped environment, is, is this what we want in our country? Do we want vigilante citizens patrolling our streets taking justice into their own hands? The answer, if you care about democracy, should be a resounding no. However, for so much in this country and in human existence, it again comes down to whose ox is gored? Defenders of this type of movement will claim he was just there to protect the city from looting. He was only there for good. However, if you want citizen patrols, armed with giant-killing devices, and even less training than our police officers do, it means armed citizens everywhere. It means people of all races, faiths, political ideologies can show up anywhere “to protect” people and things. This means, people with guns defending their churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and more. This means moms and dads, standing guard outside of schools and daycares. This may sound hyperbole and may it is to an extent, but if we say it is okay for a citizen to stand guard outside an auto shop to protect it, where is the line drawn and how? Oh, and who is making or gets to make the rules?
Let us try to address the shooting.
First, there is clear evidence that the police thanked this militia group for showing up. It is not clear that the police knew it was a militia group, but I am not sure it matters. Police said they were thankful that random citizens showed up with guns and military-style gear to a situation where emotions were clearly high and possible violence could occur. Again, I ask, is this what we want for our country?
Now let us get to the misinformation and goalpost moving of this shooting. First, we do not know what caused the shooting yet. There is clear evidence it seems, that a scuffle broke out and shots fired, yet right now, we have a chicken/egg argument. People defending the action of the gunman, claiming he only did so in self-defense, however, this is impossible to prove at this point and it totally glosses over the issue of him even being there in the first place.
There is evidence that one of the people killed threw something at the gunman. This something, a plastic bag. Does throwing a plastic bag at someone mean it is okay to fire a weapon at him or her? There is no way a 17-year-old could possibly be prepared for this situation he voluntarily put himself in and it caused the death of two people. The gunman is claiming that people attacked him before he shot but others claim people only attacked him after he had fired at someone. Claiming either as fact is claiming something we do not know is true yet.
Eyewitnesses tend not to be credible (READ HERE) and this includes those involved, meaning the shooters' memory may not be credible as well. As much as most Americans will tell you, they do not like that everything thing is recorded in our society but the reality is, video is a much better witness than a human is. Video does not have emotion or bias.
Okay, back to the shooting, soon after discovering who died, posts started going around about these men. First, it was the post about how sad it was they died and how they were great people just fighting for justice. This lends itself to people searching the background of these victims because that is what people on the internet do. After defenders of the gunman discovered both victims had a criminal record it was then decided that being shot dead was just fine.
Goalpost moving again took over. We lose sight of the real issue. We do not have open real discussions about the legitimacy or lack thereof, an untrained civilian patrolling the streets of America in the name of his own cause. This is a problem in our society. We get so lost in wanting to know the truth within seconds of an occurrence that conjecture takes over and we lose ourselves in the emotions of it all.
We are wrapped in wanting ‘our side’ to win in an unwinnable situation that nothing is solved and nothing changes.
The question in both cases is really about is either shooting valid. If we do not follow the story, get the facts, and stay on message, we as a society and country will lose again. We cannot continue to lose. We cannot fail to address the question at hand anymore. Doing so will result in losing momentum and change will not come.
The movement in this country is about stamping out police brutality. It is about finding justice for a group of people, who since our inception as a country, have been terrorized by the people in power. It is about ending the discrimination and disproportionate violence that people of color and the disenfranchised deal with, especially at the hands of law enforcement.
In order to get the real change we need, we must follow the story, demand openness and honesty from our leaders, ignore and callout goalpost moving, and stop the whataboutism that has come to take over the country. Not doing so means we will spin in circles. It will mean those who are fighting against equality in this country to continue to win the war.
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