Bill Studenc: A local case study in how social media can rapidly spread falsehoods

Jul. 30—A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.

The often-quoted adage, frequently attributed to American humorist Mark Twain, provides an apt description of a recent social media kerfuffle.

The hubbub began earlier this month with an unfounded online accusation that a transgender individual had used the women's locker room to change into a bathing suit — in full view of two young girls — while visiting the Waynesville Recreation Center earlier this month.

That was the Facebook post that launched a thousand replies (well, actually a couple of hundred), with many comments consisting of thinly veiled threats of vigilante violence with all the subtlety of a certain Jason Aldean song.

Other keyboard warriors took to Facebook to issue a stream of small-minded statements vilifying marginalized members of our community who are part of the LGBTQ population.

Posts ranged from themes of "sic daddy on 'em," "here comes the redneck way" and "make plans at the funeral home before returning to the Rec Center" to statements dehumanizing the transgender woman as "it."

The original post was shared numerous times across social media platforms, with the shared posts generating even more manufactured outrage, expressions of testicular fortitude and political posturing.

But here's the thing: the alleged incident was investigated by the Waynesville Police Department, and it never really happened. Yes, a transgender individual did visit the Rec Center on the day in question, but the person never entered the women's locker room, instead changing in a gender-neutral family locker room.

As reported by this publication's Aarik Long, the family locker room includes three changing areas with floor-to-ceiling concrete walls and floor-to ceiling wooden doors, meaning no one could have seen someone else changing inside one of these stalls, even by accident.

Video footage from the Rec Center's security cameras also did not contain images of the so-called traumatized children in or near the pool area at the time the transgender person was swimming.

Waynesville town officials released a statement last Sunday night detailing the police department's findings, invalidating the allegations made online and declaring that there were no violations of town policy and no criminal activity.

Which brings us back to the quote attributed to the author formerly known as Samuel Langhorne Clemens. The town's statement came July 23, which was 11 days after the initial Facebook post that ignited the firestorm.

By the time truth had a chance to tie its shoes, the lie had traveled halfway around the world — or at least across the entire county and throughout Western North Carolina. To paraphrase another old adage, never let the truth get in the way of a good Tweet.

Look, as a father of now-adult children, I understand the sentiment of wanting to protect kids from sexual predators. But being transgender does not mean a person is attracted to underage children. That's a myth and, more to the point, simply an excuse for prejudice against the LGBTQ community, especially the "T for transgender" part of that abbreviation.

Sadly, it's become popular to demean transgender people and treat them as unworthy of respect, usually out of unfounded fear and a failure to understand why transgender people are, well, transgender.

A top candidate in North Carolina's gubernatorial race regularly belittles gay and transgender residents of the state he wants to lead — this despite the fact he is African-American and not so long ago faced the same sort of prejudice and hatred he is now parroting.

A lot of people lost their minds when Bud Light dared to partner with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney, boycotting the beer at the urging of musician Kid Rock who famously shot up a few cases of Bud Light.

Personally, I find it amusing that many folks celebrate the demise of Bud Light sales while continuing to swill regular Budweiser (aka "Bud Heavy"), Michelob Light or one of the many other brands owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev — and still contributing to the corporation's bottom line.

Here's a thought. Perhaps we should remember another old adage that goes something like this: Love thy neighbor as thyself.

The Bible did not say love thy neighbor as thyself as long as thy neighbor is not transgender. Or a member of a different political party...or someone who practices a different religious faith...or has a different skin color.

Bill Studenc, who began his career in journalism and communications at The Mountaineer in 1983, retired in January 2021 as chief communications officer at Western Carolina University. He now writes about life in the mountains of Western North Carolina.