There will be much said by both sides of the political spectrum about Rittenhouse's verdicts today. Indeed, I am hardly a Wisconsin law expert, but I do know a thing or two about disinformation and misinformation. If there is one thing the left-leaning population and media should take away from the trial it is that they are just as easily manipulated by memes posted on social media. I know because I fell for some of it.

For this trial, like many other important trials, I attempted to avoid coverage until the verdict was delivered with the goal of only reading fully fact based reporting with no speculation. Despite my efforts I saw countless memes on Facebook and Twitter, mostly from left-leaning outlets, that seemed too crazy and/or good to be true. Turns out they were, but that's not the important part. The lesson here is that even though I was trying to keep an open mind about all those involved in the trial, I had developed impressions about Rittenhouse, the people he shot, the judge and the conduct of the prosecution. I know this is my first blog so know that I pride myself on being able to spot dis/misinformation. Although I still think I am good at that, this trial has reminded me how one must be vigilant at all times even when one is trying to relax.

This highlights one of the key problems with social media platforms; dis/misinformation is always being targeted at you, even when you think you are just checking to make sure the older members of your family did not post anything too embarrassing or damaging to your password recovery questions bank.  

If you would like to learn more about just how badly some of these memes got things wrong, I highly suggest you listen to the 18 November 2021 episode of the Opening Arguments podcast (Skip to 21m40s).