Conspiracy is ruthless when it comes to what subject it will take and create an “alternate reality” of sorts. Overall we all still have an idea of what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary when on Dec 14th, 2012 a shooter entered the school and proceeded to murder 26 people, including 20 1st grade children. A conspiracy started taking foot when people online caught a brief clip of one of the parents emitting a very brief laugh, that the parents themselves have said was a nervous laugh, before going on a podium and giving a touching tribute to their daughter who had lost her life. The clip was used as “evidence” that the parent might’ve been a crisis actor or lying about losing their child. Alex Jones, former host of Info Wars, then caught on to the speculation and added validity to the claims by repeatedly circulating the video and casting doubt on the intentions of the parents.
The entire situation took a life of its own when the conspiracy theory started taking shape that “what happened at Sandy Hook was a sinister government plot designed to encroach upon gun owners’ rights.” (Davies. D, 2024) They used tactics such as “card stacking” to portray inconsistencies and conflicting information in the media’s narrative as “indisputable proof” to push doubt and uncertainty into the public mind. Alex Jones would consistently play videos of parent testimonials with his own commentary to question the intentions of the parent, repetition. One image that I still remember vividly from when this first happened was a screenshot of two grieving women in different pictures being circulated with people claiming both pictures showcased the same woman. They would push that it was a crisis actor being hired by the government
Memes like the one pictured above would circulate among many different social groups, and if you take a close look at all three women, you realize they don’t actually look similar. They just have a similar face of anguish. But this was created with the intention of creating doubt around the entire situation.
As of 2022 Sandy Hook parents of victims were still part of defamation cases against Alex Jones. The cases have resulted in him having to pay around $ 1.5 billion, effectively bankrupting him. You could say that overall the parents were able to achieve a happy ending, but this all occurred a decade after the mass shooting, with the parents and even an FBI agent facing harassment, online and publicly, for the lies spread by Jones and others. The entire situation has also helped lay the groundwork for how influencers and politicians in today’s age promote conspiracy theories to further their own cause. It gave many influencers today new tactics to use on social media, and also helped to create a new reward system where people can financially benefit from spreading these kinds of lies. Amanda Crawfod of UConn Today states, “…the Sandy Hook shooting demonstrated how fringe ideas could quickly become mainstream on social media and win support from various establishment figures – even when the conspiracy theory targeted grieving families of young students and school staff killed during the massacre.” (Crawford. A, 2021)
Conspiracy theories were once fringe ideas that people would balk at for the simple implication that you authentically believed it. Now they dominate the political landscape, and chances could be that there is at least one theory that has caught your attention.
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