I bought a gun. Then the fake news started. [View all]

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-bought-a-gun-then-the-fake-news-started/2017/10/20/1c3458ec-af9a-11e7-be94-fabb0f1e9ffb_story.html
I bought a gun. Then the fake news started.
By Tia Graves Fisher | October 20 at 6:49 PM
Tia Graves Fisher lives in Iowa County, Wis.

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That afternoon — worried about further incursions and the potential for rabies exposure — I drove to a gun store in Richland Center and bought a semiautomatic .22-caliber rifle. In just a matter of days, I went from raccoon photographer to registered gun owner.

On June 7, I posted the photo of that rascal raccoon with the caption, “Caught red handed trying to break in.” I got 13 likes. Some months later, I got a fundraising call on my unlisted landline from a pro-gun group — had my name gotten on some database of gun owners? — conducting a political survey on the Second Amendment. Then, sometime that fall, I started getting the bad “news” about Hillary Clinton.

I recall reading online “news” reports that she was in terrible health. She allegedly had secret brain surgery by some doctor who later mysteriously died. That’s what the story said. Another touted a “whistle blower” who disclosed that Clinton had Parkinson’s disease. Another “news” report alleged she hid a colostomy bag underneath the long tunics she regularly wore on the campaign trail. Meanwhile, Donald Trump was all over it, bringing up Clinton’s health with regularity. I wondered why CNN and other outlets weren’t reporting these stories. After hunting around, I was able to determine that the stories were false, of course, but they nonetheless served as a reminder of Clinton’s bout with pneumonia and that she nearly collapsed getting into a car at an event. The false stories reminded me of the true ones.

Today, now that the election fog has lifted, I vaguely recall reading other nefarious “news.” (Regrettably, I now find it necessary to use quotation marks around this word.) Though I clearly remember these “news” stories, I can’t really attest to their source or where I saw them. I can’t remember which I saw on my Facebook feed — which I increasingly relied on for my “news” — and which I saw elsewhere.

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