Courts

Deep Sigh: No, Amy Coney Barrett Has Not Been Arrested

There's an insidious reason this 'satire' is making the rounds.

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(Photo by Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images)

In the aughts, those bucolic early days of the internet, people would frequently be confuddled by The Onion. That whole “satire” thing can be rough for the uninitiated and not everyone is familiar with Snopes. And don’t even get me started on the shitshow of April Fool’s Day, when even reputable news sources try to play “gotcha!” But in the 20s, the downside is up, we’re through the looking glass, and demonstrably false conspiracy theories are mainstream.

All of which is to say, in the age of Q, you have to debunk even the dumbest stories, because I mean, I would have thought “the Democrats are running a child trafficking ring through a pizzeria” was sufficiently batshit to not need formal fact checking, but well, time makes fools of us all.

Anyway, there’s a OBVIOUSLY FAKE rumor circulating that Amy Coney Barrett has been placed under house arrest by the military. And as these things do, it’s been making the rounds, appearing on Instagram (complete with a disturbing slew of hashtags), posted to Facebook, and on YouTube.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPJVqCsBW8M/

In addition to the sheer level of absurdity in the piece, Coney Barrett has been seen, in public, after the date of her supposed arrest. Plus, the post has been traced back to a website that claims to be satire, as reported by USA Today:

The outlet that published the claim has previously published false claims about the arrest of high-profile politicians. Real Raw News defines itself as an “independent publisher” that “explores content often avoided by the mainstream media.”

A disclaimer on the site’s “About Us” page says information on the site is for informational, educational and entertainment purposes and its content contains “humor, parody, and satire.”

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Despite the disclaimer buried on the About Us page, the story has been shared with the claim that the site is “generally very accurate.” But, we live in an era where outrage is currency and the former president’s adherence to a lie about the election has spurred very real voting rights restrictions around the country. So, as the Supreme Court looks ready to take an unpopular stance and demolish reproductive freedom, “satire” that drums up some good, old fashioned outrage against liberals and paints Coney Barrett as a martyr (and let’s be honest, Coney Barrett is probably going to pen the decision overturning Roe) is likely designed to play a much larger role in the culture wars.

headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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