In the Fall of 2017, a doctored photo raced around the Intewebz, purporting to show Seattle Seahawks player Michael Bennett, holding a burning flag as a part of a post-game locker room celebration. Shockingly — or maybe not — it was shared and shared and shared by folks who though it was real. And of course it was not real. Even by the standards of bad Photoshopping, this one was, well, pretty damn bad.
Fast forward about a year, and a group calling itself Right Now MN posted a badly doctored photo on their Facebook page purporting to show Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, and Representative Keith Ellison holding a “town hall” meeting at a homeless encampment not far from downtown Minneapolis. Not only was it Photoshoped so badly it made the Bennett photo look like it was done by a pro, it used an image from Minnesota Public Radio without attribution.
To their credit, MPR used their hijacked image as a example of how to spot faked photos, noting that: “Visuals spread across the internet much quicker than text and are more likely to go viral.”
Really though, how would anyone believe this was real? Okay, maybe don’t answer that…
Right Now MN is apparently an off-shoot of Right Now USA, set up using funds from one Louis Fors Hill, a descendant of railroad tycoon James J. Hill. They later took this image down, but not before, of course, it was shared and shared and shared.
As basically everyone on here understands, buyer beware when it comes to shared images/memes, etc. It stinks we have to be so vigilant, but the alternative is the spread of disinformation, falsehoods, and photos that are laughably bad. Stay vigilant my friends, we don’t have much choice.