News of a shooting at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania broke Saturday, then descended immediately into the chaotic churn of social media, birthing the kind of lies, conspiracies and speculation that have become our new normal.
What happened was sickening. We didn’t need to wait on specific details to know that. Hearing a crackle of gunfire and watching the presumptive Republican presidential nominee – thankfully OK – swarmed by Secret Service officers, rushed off the stage with blood on his face? It’s unthinkable. It’s not how America is supposed to work.
But what followed, within minutes, was maddening.
Shooting at Trump rally birthed swift social media conspiracies
The chaos of the moment, as is always the case now, was swiftly made worse by speculation blasted out to thousands or millions on X and Facebook and other platforms. It came from every source – random knuckleheads, pundits, lawmakers – deciding in the moment they knew exactly what had happened.
Facts rendered meaningless. Opinions and hot takes elevated to levels that were once the sole realm of actual, reputable news.
It was this person’s fault. It was that person’s fault. You’re to blame. They’re to blame.
Americans’ social-media-driven demand for instant answers hurts us all
Trending topics took off with claims of everything from an assassination attempt to a staged event. Unfettered garbage. Cynical manipulations.
Sick, twisted imaginings and attempts at humor – worthless chatter that once had no way to enter the mainstream – were blasted out to a country where, quite literally, everybody has to have a damn opinion in order to grasp at some form of social status.
What is wrong with us? How have we let the drip of conspiracy theories and lies that are part of any society become a firehose?
After the Trump rally shots, there was no waiting around for facts
I don’t know yet exactly what happened at Trump’s rally, beyond the reporting that says the former president is OK, a person at the rally was shot and killed, two others were injured and the shooter is dead. That will change as investigators learn more and share it with the public, but in the wake of the shooting Saturday, that is absolutely the extent of anyone’s knowledge.
This didn’t stop people from extrapolating, from fabricating, from sensationalizing a horrible moment that needed no augmenting. The dearth of facts were quickly backfilled with opportunistic bollocks.
As a journalist, as someone whose entire professional life has been anchored by facts, this out-of-control, all-too-predictable tornado of fiction makes me sick. It has made me sick following more tragic, chaotic moments that I can recall. It made me sick in the past few weeks as everyone and their uncle became an expert on aging and on President Joe Biden’s cognitive state.
But this moment – even though we still don’t know the motive or the full details – is one that demands clarity and unity and care. Damn it, we are one nation, and we can and should, across the board, condemn any form of political violence. Period.
Trump rally shooting should’ve made us pause, not speculate
And that’s all anyone should have been doing Saturday, from the moment that shocking gunfire erupted and on and on through the night and until Americans know, without question, what the hell happened.
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This isn’t a battle. This can’t be us vs. us. We have to reach a moment where we put down our phones and just keep quiet. Just let the facts come out. Just hold back the emotions and the click-thirsty desires and the demand for instant gratification that has led us to this point.
I look forward to every detail of this horrific shooting coming out so we can move forward together and do what Americans should be doing: Make things better.
What happened on social media and across TV screens throughout the country in the wake of this shooting all but certainly made things worse.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump rally shooting shows our unwillingness to wait for facts
