In March 2019, United States President Donald Trump made several comments about Sen. John McCain, who died of brain cancer the previous August. Trump’s 2019 comments continued a feud that he had had with McCain before his death: President Donald Trump’s feud with the late Sen. John McCain dates back many years, to long before …
On March 18 2019, just days after a right-wing extremist traveled from Australia to Christchurch, New Zealand to murder fifty people at two mosques during Friday prayers, British conservative commentator Theodora Dickinson posted a video of a burning building on Twitter with the following commentary: In response to the New Zealand mosque attacks, Islamists have …
Retaliatory Attack on Christian Church in Pakistan? Read More »
In March 2019, a Facebook user shared a meme (archived here) which claimed that the “OK sign” hand gesture is both favored by white supremacists, and that it is also American Sign Language for the word “asshole”: The meme’s text read: HERE’S A BUNCH OF WHITE NATIONALISTS FROM ORANGE COUNTY FLASHING THE HAND SIGN FOR …
Is the ‘OK’ Hand Sign Also American Sign Language for ‘Asshole’? Read More »
In March 2019, two viral Facebook posts circulated with an image of an alarmingly inaccurate “Why Did Slaves Come to America?” worksheet. The viral Facebook posts were part of a larger controversy in February and March 2019 about myriad incomplete, deeply inaccurate, and outright misleading school lessons on slavery in various places across the United States in …
‘Why Did Slaves Come to America?’ School Worksheet Read More »
On March 3 2019, Texas politician Sid Miller shared “An important reminder!”, a meme (archived here) purportedly providing the last line in a Statue of Liberty dedication speech from October 1886: Atop a bronze Statue of Liberty, the meme’s text stated: The last line in the speech at the unveiling of the Statue of Liberty, …
‘There is Room in America and Brotherhood for All’ Statue of Liberty Dedication Speech Read More »
In February 2019, a Facebook page shared the following biographical meme about Samuel L. Jackson, detailing a purported drug addiction that defined his life before he got clean, which was around the time he appeared in Pulp Fiction. Alongside the meme, the page wrote: “Because he did not allow his situation to become his coffin.” The …
Was Samuel L. Jackson an ‘Unknown Heroin Addict’ Before ‘Pulp Fiction’? Read More »
On February 24 2019, the Facebook page “Pictures in History” shared the following caption with the photograph seen above: A long forgotten Christmas tradition, women once used to beg their husbands for forgiveness from all of their wrongdoings and mistakes that they made throughout the year. Why did this tradition disappear?!? The post proved immediately popular, …
Christmas Tradition of Women Begging Their Husbands for Forgiveness? Read More »
In February 2019, a mid-2018 tweet about family separations and the permanent and widespread transfer of children from their families to other people qualifying as genocide began recirculating. The tweet was initially published in June 2018, and it said: Stealing someone’s child and then giving them to someone else permanently is not “adoption”. It is …
In January 2019, a meme that appeared to be a screenshot of an older post asserting that the real Lone Ranger was a black man named Bass Reeves spread on social media: Above what appeared to be an archival photograph of a black man and the television character the Lone Ranger, a screencaptured Facebook post …
On January 30 2019, entertainment outlets began reporting that singer Ariana Grande showed off a Japanese character tattoo she believed translated to “seven rings” — and the publicity revealed that the ink actually said “charcoal grill”: In her grand tradition of getting new ink to mark major life events, Ariana Grande got a new hand tattoo …
Does Ariana Grande’s ‘Seven Rings’ Tattoo Actually Mean ‘Charcoal Grill’ in Japanese? Read More »
