Thread by @WillMcAvoyACN

So, before I sign off for the holiday, I want to talk a little about actual fake news and the way we are getting distracted with bulllshit at times where we probably shouldn't be getting distracted by bullshit.

I want to talk about the Nike story and the Little Mermaid Girl. 1/9

As of right now, the Nike story has inexplicably dominated two days of a news cycle and conversation, while the Little Mermaid girl has racked up over 10,000 replies.

And yet almost all of the outrage expressed across the political spectrum is complete misguided here. 2/9

That twitter account? It's a complete fake. All of the photos come from google image search. It's not a real person, it's someone pretending (probably either a Russian or some 4chan idiot) they are racist to get you angry and spend your energy. And it worked. 3/9

It's not that different from what happened with the Nike/Kaepernick story. The WSJ reported that Kaepernick learned Nike was planning a shoe with the Betsy Ross flag and Kaepernick (correctly) informed them that there is a connection to that flag and white supremacists. 4/9

Now, it's not their most known symbol by any means, but it is a symbol that some on the far-right have used as part of their call for a second American revolution. Again, don't think about this stuff too hard, racists are dumb. 5/9

In short, a whole subset of the internet got upset that they didn't have an opportunity to spend $150.00 on a pair of shoes that, two days earlier, they didn't know existed. They spent all this anger and energy on, well, bullshit. 6/9

Over the last two days, pictures & multiple first hand reports from independent observers about the deplorable conditions at the detention centers where migrant children are being held were released. POTUS is escalating tensions with one despot while normalizing another. 7/9

And we, as a nation, at least the very-online portion of our nation, have spent the time dunking on Nike and Kaepernick, or dunking on a fake troll twitter account, because that is easy. That takes little effort and makes us feel good afterwards. 8/9

But honestly, it's all just bullshit.

And I don't think we have time for bullshit right now.

9/end