Media and the perception of emotion: how it makes everything worse.
Once a piece of media is public, there is no going back. The digital footprint is something that we all know about, but often don't take seriously. From controversies coming up five years later from people's earliest days on the internet to netizens reading into hidden meanings in posts. More often than not, impressions are made on the internet and the true meaning behind something gets lost; but that's common knowledge.
However, there are certain circumstances where this is taken to an extreme and causes effects beyond the scope of internet speculation. One case of this is in the Lindsey Clancy trial. I have written on this topic before in terms of Lindsey and her mental state during the course of the events and the trial; however, there is another key character that I think has felt enormous side effects from internet speculation, Patrick Clancy. Patrick is the father of the Clancy children. To give context, Linsey Clancy is being tried for the murder of her three children, and Patrick is testifying against her.
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Patrick has faced more argument and discourse online than many people in the last year. Throughout the trial, internet sleuths have found evidence being used in the trial and have found strange discrepancies with the story the prosecution is bringing to court. In short, there are pieces of evidence that came to light that point to Lindsey not being able to commit the crime. While this is all conjecture, many people across the internet have begun analyzing Patrick's movements since the incident.
One moment that many netizens have been analyzing is his interview with 60 Minutes. He participated in this interview with his new wife, Dr. Rachel Danis. In this interview, Patrick spoke about the death of his children and how he has kept their memory alive. This is a sensitive subject no matter who or what they are speaking to. However, this didn't stop many people across the internet from speculating about how his grief wasn’t genuine. Rather than basing their speculation upon solid evidence, many netizens took to these interviews to create narratives about Patrick.
I have no opinion on whether or not Patrick has involvement in the case; however, I believe that this conjecture based on body language and tone of voice is not beneficial for anyone. Grief is a complex process that is very different for people, so having thousands of people across the internet judging that process creates misinformation and more confusion.
