Jumping to Conclusions

 I typically divide up my New Year]s Resolutions by category and actually try to monitor them throughout the year.  I actually do accomplish some things and fall short in others.   I don’t even refer to them as “resolutions” but rather they are goals for the year.

One of the goals which is a carryover from last year and which I have had some success over the past two years is not jumping to conclusions.  

I got my first taste of it a few years ago when the incident involving the Covington kids popped up.  The imagery splurged across legacy media and social media was of a smug looking teenager sporting a MAGA hat looking down on a grizzled Native American as if he were harassing him.  The New York Times described him as a Vietnam Vet, and the framing of the photo was meant to look like a young white supremacist needling this patriotic old American Indian.  Several people immediately posted it on social media with their derisive comments, calling for the kid’s head.  And I admit, I was almost sucked in.  The narrative and images were quite persuasive.  But I refrained from posting any comment.

And it turned out that my inhibitions were correct.  When videos with other camera angles were revealed and the true facts came to light, we learned that the reality was just the opposite of what was portrayed by the media.  It was the Native American that was harassing Nicholas Sandmann, who then sued several media outlets and won settlement in his defamation lawsuits with the Washington Post and CNN. 

You would think that after the confrontation with the Covington kids, the fake hate crime of Jussie Smollett, and the fake noose of Bubba Wallace, that people would not rush to judgment following an event.  It’s pretty clear that legacy media and social media are willing to censor, distort or outright lie.  And when the facts turn out differently than are first presented, it can be quite embarrassing.  Nikki Haley found out the hard way when she rushed to decry the supposed “hate crime” perpetrated against Bubba Wallace, only to learn that the “noose” was merely a garage pull. 

But the Twitter crowd remains undeterred. 

When Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin collapsed with a cardiac issue recently, and we feared that we might have the first on field death since Detroit Lions player Chuck Hughes collapsed and died in 1971.  The Twitter crowd immediately began pointing fingers at the vaccine.  That may or may not be the case, but it was much too soon to leap to that conclusion.  It’s certainly possible, but demonizing Pfizer or Moderna is simply premature.

Then we had the sabotage against an electrical substation in North Carolina that plunged thousands into darkness for 4 days.  The sabotage occurred on the day following a large protest against a proposed drag queen show at a local theater.   Immediately, Twitter was flooded with posts claiming that the entire area is full of racists and bigots.  Several posts derided the sheriff as a redneck.  But there was not a shred of evidence that the act was motivated by the drag queen show (notwithstanding the fact that citizens are perfectly within their rights to object to such a thing in their community).   There have been several other attacks and intrusions on power stations throughout the country, and while no parties have been caught, it is increasingly unlikely that the drag queen show had anything to do with it.

Jumping to conclusions reveals a lack of critical thinking.  While the immediacy of social media tempts one to respond, a response often simply tells the world that you are siloed and vulnerable to confirmation bias.  People wanted to believe that far right redneck sabateurs were responsible for the attack on the substation in North Carolina.  People want to believe that the vaccination was the cause of Damar Hamlin’s near death experience.   People wanted to believe that the garage pull in Bubba Wallace’s garage was a noose put there by some racist.  Media bias and the number of false flags, especially in matters of alleged racist or bigoted acts (Smollett was the king of that) suggests that it is wise to wait for an event to simmer for awhile before commenting.  While some on social media could win a gold medal in an Olympic leaping to conclusions event, at least that is one of my continuing goals this year is to refrain from doing so.