News and Views
Thoughts on watching the misinformation and narrative unfold after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump
It’s an odd feeling to see something and instantly know you’re witnessing something historic. And not in the good way.
Last Sunday I opened up Instagram and, probably like most of you, saw footage of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. Of course, at the time we didn’t know it was an attempted assassination. In fact, we didn’t know much at all in those initial hours. In the earliest stages, all we had to go on was a minute or so of video and some brief news reports that shots had been allegedly fired at a Trump rally. The hot takes and misinformation, absent of any actual facts, began to flow immediately.
I found it both fascinating and concerning to see this all unfold in real time. It’s fascinating to me, particularly as someone who has studied a lot of history, to watch the unfolding in real time knowing that whatever the facts, this event and the flurry of discourse it generated is something that will have far reaching impacts. The way the contradictory misinformation and conspiracy theories gained traction will be a really interesting case study to look back on in an academic sense. It’s also obviously incredibly concerning to see just how quickly misinformation and disinformation spreads and becomes entrenched, and how people are feeding into this environment without even realising the consequences of their comments.
Possibly the most disappointing thing to me was the way accounts and organisations who purport to be sources of progressive and independent media / news / journalism / analysis, fed into this misinformation and speculation in their own content, and allowed misinformation or violent sentiments to go unchecked in their comment sections. In people’s haste to make content out of this, I worry that they put their own clicks over adding something valuable to the discussion.
I read an excellent piece on The Meteor this week that included a link to Jennifer Pozner’s post on media literacy, which I highly recommend reading. The article also included this quote from Jennifer Pozner that really resonated with me:
“Legitimate news reporting is a time-consuming process. During chaotic events, ethical reporters have to vet sources, fact-checkers need to do their best to confirm the story, and they all need to work carefully to ensure that they’re giving the public accurate information.
You know what takes no time at all? Bullshit. Bullshit is instantaneous. Rumor, propaganda, bots, and bad actors always pop up right away, flooding the zone with disinformation and conspiracy theories to fill every short-term information vacuum.
This is a collective societal problem, but we contribute to it individually when we react without thinking critically… That’s dangerous because disinformation is sticky. When disinformation infuses the immediate narrative, it can be hard to convince people of reality even after the facts have been verified.
It’s important to wait for verified reporting to establish the facts.”
I’ve been reading about misinformation for a while as it’s something that simultaneously interests and scares me. We have seen misinformation spreading more easily than ever because of the hyper-connectivity of the world coupled with increasing disunity and division. Reading this article and the quote from Jennifer Pozner really clarified why I felt particularly disappointed with the way some people handled the aftermath of the shooting. I had expected people who self-identify as progressives to push back against misinformation and conspiracy theories. But instead, they created more space for that speculation to grow and abandoned any sense of media literacy or critical thinking.
I saw a few common themes emerge in posts and comment sections. The main reactions I saw from a lot of people were along the lines of ‘if only they hadn’t missed’ or ‘it was staged’. (And this probably goes without saying, but my Instagram is definitely more on the progressive side so that is the general environment I’m reflecting on here.)
It was jarring to see just how readily (and almost gleefully) people went straight to almost condoning the shooting because the target was Trump. While I understand it probably comes from a place adjacent to schadenfreude, this particular reaction really reinforced to me that we don’t need to put every thought we have online.
I was also deeply uncomfortable with commentary from some progressive accounts along the lines of ‘we all immediately thought “if only the bullet hit Trump”...’ usually followed by some justification. It felt so wrong to have people I often align with to just casually throw comments out like that, especially as that was in no way my immediate thought on seeing the shooting. I don’t doubt that some people did have that as their first thought, but I think this is a prime example of thoughts that you don’t need to share on a public Instagram account… especially if you’re someone with influence.
Another Jennifer Pozner quote from The Meteor article really speaks to this:
“Remember, everything we say publicly can impact other people and possibly contribute to an escalation of violence or conspiracy (and screenshots are forever). Fears, ugly thoughts, and dark humour are deeply human, and it’s OK to express them. But if we want to avoid doing harm, we should really only share them with our “inside voice”: offline in the context of conversations with trusted friends.”
The other main theme I saw in comments and posts was the conspiratorial take that the event was staged. ‘Staged’ started trending on Twitter almost immediately after the shooting. I saw comments from people saying that it didn’t look real, that people weren’t panicked enough in the video, that the Secret Service didn’t respond fast enough… and then once the photo from AP photographer Evan Vucci was released, the conspiracy theory really ramped up with claims it was ‘too perfect’ to be real. (A side note but I’m completely fascinated with the photo and discourse around it. It’s a phenomenal photo taken by a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer and really shows the skill level of photojournalists and their instinct for a photographic way of seeing.)
These comments are dangerous in a different way. While the pseudo-condoning of political violence because the target is Trump is dangerous as it normalises political violence and undermines democracy, the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories is dangerous because of the way it undermines the truth and creates permission structures for people to believe what they want and act on their fictive version of events.
Of course there were conspiracy theories on ‘both sides’, but it has to be acknowledged that conspiracy theories are often seen as something engaged in by ‘the right’ and this has shown just how easily anyone - no matter your politics - can be drawn into conspiratorial thinking.
The way these comments were allowed to remain unchecked on news / media / analysis accounts is also problematic as it enables the spread of conspiracy theories. When conspiracy theories are given oxygen and are not debunked, the misinformation is given the veneer of legitimacy and is allowed to spread.
I genuinely think that accounts need to do better in moderating comments when it comes to misinformation. These comments aren’t just a differing opinion. Misinformation, disinformation and propaganda can be incredibly dangerous. And that isn’t even touching on the bad actors who deliberately use moments like this to sow dissent and drive division. I worry that people get too caught up in the fear of ‘cancel culture’ or ‘censorship’ to meaningfully address misinformation. To allow your platform to be a place where misinformation is spread (and some accounts even using the ‘staged’ conspiracy for engagement purposes) should be antithetical to progressive values. It really makes me wonder how much these independent progressive news accounts are willing to allow for the sake of engagement.
This whole situation has really highlighted the importance of media literacy and critical thinking, particularly in crisis and events where there is going to be a delay in getting all the information while journalists do their due diligence to factually report what happened. We need to be aware of how misinformation fills the information vacuum and how it spreads, to make sure we’re not enabling or contributing to the spread of false information. Particularly if your commentary comes with a level of influence.
For what it’s worth, my initial thoughts were on Trump’s incredible instincts when it comes to his image and how to use the media to his advantage. I begrudgingly concede that he is a master manipulator when it comes to his image. If nothing else, Trump understands the power of branding and propaganda.
What else is going on?
Politicians in South Korea are blaming women – and the 4B movement – for men’s poor mental health. A rise in male suicides in the country led a Seoul City councillor, Kim Ki-duck, to claim in a report that the country has “begun to change into a female-dominated society” and that this was partly the cause of increased male suicide attempts. The report also proposed that women’s increased workforce participation means that it's harder for men to get jobs or find women who want to marry them. Suicide prevention experts expressed concern over the report, Song In Han, a mental-health professor at Seoul’s Yonsei University, said “it is dangerous and unwise to make claims like this without sufficient evidence.” This is just the latest in the anti-feminist backlash in South Korea, where disillusioned young men believe they have been disadvantaged by feminism and improvements to women’s lives. South Korea is one of the worst countries in the world for gender inequality, and the 4B movement (which calls for women to refuse marriage, childbirth, dating and sex with men) has very much been driven by women opting out of the patriarchy, and the men of South Korea more broadly.
Tbh skincare went viral with a TikTok video of the tbh team doing the ‘boots and a slicked back bun’ trend making its way onto Twitter and the misogynistic universe of Andrew Tate who posted the video to his 9.7 million followers on Twitter saying “if you do not escape The Matrix, women like this will be your boss”. Cue misogynistic attacks towards the women and the brand, with many telling them to get back in the kitchen and that this is why we need to reinstate the gender pay gap. On The Project, Georgie Tunny asked tbh founder Rachael Wilde if she thought the backlash was because it was a group of young women. Rachael responded that she definitely saw an undertone in the online commentary “where women who participate in these trends on TikTok are somehow automatically linked with being uneducated or bad at their jobs and it’s almost turned into this big conversation on women in the workforce.” It’s interesting (or perhaps unsurprising) to see how a fun TikTok video ended up at a discussion about whether women should even be in the workforce.
This week was the Republican National Convention (RNC) which included some truly unhinged moments. One of the main announcements this week though was that J.D. Vance, the conservative Ohio Senator who previously described himself as a ‘Never Trumper’ and compared Trump to Hitler, was named as Trump’s running mate. That means that if Trump wins the presidency, Vance would be the Vice President and first in line to replace Trump as President. Vance was previously best known for his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy (side note: Michael Hobbes podcast ‘If Books Could Kill’ re-released their Hillbilly Elegy episode this week if you haven’t already listened). He holds some incredibly troubling views on immigration, abortion, domestic violence and foreign policy - among others. He’s said if he was Trump’s VP president in 2020, he would have carried out Trump’s scheme for the vice president to overturn the election results. After last week’s assassination attempt on Trump, he blamed the shooting on Democrats’ rhetoric about democracy. He is basically an enabler for all the worst of the Trumpist policies, as well as for Trump himself given the newfound confirmation of immunity from criminal charges in carrying out official acts as President.
Recommendations
My latest hyperfixation is My Lady Jane on Amazon Prime. It’s an historical fantasy series that reimagines the life of the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey, best known in history for being Queen for nine days before Mary Tudor (aka Bloody Mary) became Queen of England. It’s honestly like this show was made for me. It’s got Tudor period historical fiction with romance (this show made up for Bridgerton season 3 for me - IYKYK), witty dialogue, political drama and an incredibly engaging plot with a fun fantasy element. It’s like The Great meets Bridgerton meets A Knights Tale (with a bit of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette in the mix). I am so hoping they get a season 2 because I am obsessed.
The first two episodes of the Simone Biles documentary, Simone Biles: Rising on Netflix, came out this week and it’s a must-watch, especially with the Paris Olympics starting next week. It documents her experience surrounding the Tokyo Olympics - where she ended up needing to withdraw from competition for mental health reasons. Her raw vulnerability and honesty in sharing her experience, including the immense public scrutiny she was facing, really shows how incredible she is. Her story, while exceptional, is also incredibly relatable in that you can only repress your thoughts and feelings and trauma for so long before your mind and body will say enough and force you to deal with it. (Content warning - there are mentions of Larry Nassar and the abuse he perpetrated on the women of the USA gymnastics team)
Please let me know your thoughts on the reactions on social media following the Trump shooting, and if you think accounts should do more to moderate their comments to stop misinformation spreading.
I’d also love to know your thoughts on this new format for News and Views! Hopefully you’ve enjoyed a bit more analysis and opinion of a big news story alongside some interesting news from the week.
Loved this format Lauren!
Thank you Lauren