A reasonable answer is rarely found in immediacy. Especially when dealing
with such a complex event.
The Alec Baldwin involved shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins has amassed
worldwide media attention. At this point, the shooting appears to have been
some kind of tragically fatal accident with a prop gun. The information
surrounding this incident is still very ambiguous because it is still
undergoing investigation. However, the lack of clear and concise facts about
the shooting have not slowed the spread of absurd conspiracies about it. The
most prominent theory floating around on various social media platforms is that
Hutchins was killed because she had information that could lead to the arrest
of Hillary Clinton.
Alec Baldwin murdering someone in broad day light, on the set of a movie, as
some kind of assassin working behalf of the Clinton family sounds like a book
Ben Shapiro would write while on a meth bender. This theory finds its baseless
roots in two separate pieces of information: Halyna’s husband, Matt Hutchins is
a lawyer and the rest was derived from a fake tweet.
Matt Hutchins does practice law, but he was not the lawyer that represented
Hilary Clinton during the Russian Probe incident as he was falsely accused by numerous
users on Twitter. This theory is rooted in fiction. The lawyer that represented
Clinton is named Michael Sussmann.
As far as the fake tweet regarding Halyna Hutchins and her supposed information
regarding Hilary Clinton, surprise! It’s also some bullshit. The first flaw in
this tweet is that whoever made it added a verified check mark to her account.
Hutchins was not verified. The second flaw for this tweet is its sheer
laziness. Do you really think that someone that had information that could lead
to the arrest of Hilary Clinton would just tweet that out word for word? Come
on. Try a little but harder next time. A good conspiracy’s bread and butter is
in the level of mystery that surrounds it. I’d have an easier time believing
the tweet if it was written in clues. Like, “I have damaging information about
a high profile politician. Hint: her husband is a connoisseur of high profile blow
jobs and his third member has been attached to controversies stemming from
Lewinski to Epstein.” If you’re going to make shit up, at least make it
interesting.
The wild accusations that are surrounding Halyna Hutchins and Alec Baldwin
are based in a strong dislike for Baldwin by members of the far-right,
alt-right, and the unfortunately enduring Qanon. They have been waiting for
years to have their moment of redemption against Baldwin. Their profound
distaste for Baldwin comes from the four years he spent on Saturday Night
Live shitting on former President Trump. And in a truly grotesque fashion,
groups like those from the far-right have latched onto the loss of actual human
life to spread lies in the name of political ideologies and mislead
convictions. But just like most theories that have been created by these
groups, they cannot be influenced or swayed by any opposing facts or ideas.
This has become a common trend within these groups according to Jane Coaston
with Vox. "Unfortunately, researchers have found that fact-based
arguments against conspiracy theorists only serve to reinforce them in the
minds of believers. That’s what makes QAnon or Sandy Hook trutherism or any
other conspiracy theory so difficult to combat. Conspiracy theories aren’t
based on facts; conspiracy theorists aren’t receptive to them, either."
(Coaston, 2020)
It is unclear as to where this rumor originated from exactly. The tweet (pictured
below) was published on October 18 and at this time there is no information
regarding who actually made it. But it may have something to do with that aforementioned
Russian probe incident. Russian bots that are known for spreading
misinformation to the American people. That is not a conspiracy theory. They
are very real. "Two-thirds (66%) of all tweeted links were shared by
suspected bots. This includes links to different kinds of content around the
web." (Wojcik, 2018) Regardless of where this tweet came from, it does not
make the spread of it any less deplorable.
The most unfortunate part of misinformation being spread around the death of
Halyna Hutchins is that this will probably cement itself in the ultra-right's
rhetoric for a long time to come. Just like when the conspiracy surrounding
Seth Rich's murder being carried out in order to protect the Clintons from
going to prison made it all the way to the very influential platform of Sean
Hannity. Although, those accusations have been found to be false and Rich's
family settled out of court (for a shit ton of money) with the Fox News network
and Hannity, the conspiracy is still alive and well. And that is mostly because
with social media as a readily accessible format for nearly anyone, they can
share information and add their own perspective as a caption. This has proven
to have a powerful influence on those exposed to the posts. "Even when
users share links to news articles, they can supplement the articles with their
own commentary. Ideally this commentary is factual and based on the true
information in the article, but it is plausible that this user-generated content
is biased or inaccurate." (Carlson 2018).
This is why fact checking articles is of paramount importance in this day
and age. If a story seems inflated, it most likely is. And this type of
misinformation has redounding effects on Hutchins' surviving loved ones. What
we share online has effects that we will never feel but could be crippling to
someone else.
She had a family. She had friends. She had loved ones
that certainly wish she was still here. That’s why the conspiratorial ideas
about her being murdered by Alec Baldwin due to some baseless claims that she
had info about the Clintons are despicable.
The people that push these theories are the same
people that are constantly crying out for justice from “fake news”. But where is
the justice in spreading bullshit? Sure, you may not like Alec Baldwin, but to
make him the villain in your make believe thriller about American justice that
is set in our shared realities is fucking insulting.
The regard for the loss of human life at a distance
is interesting.
The idea of the innocent being harmed is a commonly
disparaging theme throughout all of mankind. But the farther we are from those
that are harmed, the easier it is to lose our humanity. But no matter how far
detached you are from Alec Baldwin and Halyna Hutchins it is deplorable to use
this tragedy as a catalyst to entertain your own ideologies.
Before I get too high and mighty on disparaging these
crack pot conspirators, I must make a confession. I don’t know Alec Baldwin,
nor did I know Halyna Hutchins. And that is precisely why I would catch myself
laughing at memes that depicted Baldwin as having a teardrop tattoo on his
face. Or the one where he was awarded a Combat Infantryman’s Badge. The list
goes on and on. And let’s be honest, most of us laughed at or shared content
about this tragedy. And I’ll just go out and say it. That’s ok.
We are simple humans living in some seriously
confusing times. And if we can’t find humor in the absurdity that surrounds us,
then we should all be thrown directly into the ground because we are not
living. It may be dark (and not for everyone) but there is humor to be found in
an A list actor killing someone on set with a prop gun.
This type of humor is dark and vile. I’ll be the
first to admit that, but so is the world. The bleakness of our existence will
overwhelm you if you don’t poke some fucking fun at it. That I can assure
you.
But making the world even more bleak by spreading
lies is where I firmly draw my line in the sand. No one can change the fact that
she was killed, but we can stop insulting her legacy with erroneous lies. There
is no more room for lies in an age where conspiracies are the new black.
Sources used:
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/09/5-things-to-know-about-bots-on-twitter/
"What to Believe?
Social Media Commentary and Belief in Misinformation" by Nicolas M. Anspach · Taylor N. Carlson
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/10/28/fact-check-fake-tweet-circulates-after-accidental-shooting-halyna-huchins/8545665002/
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