I grew up an hour north of Baltimore, so I have been across the Francis Scott Key Bridge a few times. I have a vague memory of the bridge’s opening in 1977, when I was 10. It was a big deal, a long bridge across a wide part of the Chesapeake Bay estuary Patapsco River that was named after an important part of the city’s history. So, the bridge’s collapse was quite a shock to me.

My first awareness that something very bad had happened very early Tuesday morning was a progressive pastor I follow on TwitterX posting a prayer to say when something tragic happens overnight. I quickly scrolled down to try to see what he was talking about and watched in stunned horror a video of the bridge going down.

Then I saw a friend retweeted a post by some right-wing edge lord with a sadly high number of followers that the container ship crashing into a bridge support was clearly an act of terrorism by radical Islamists. My friend retweeted it with “Are we really going to do this now?”

The answer, of course, was yes indeed, we really were going to do this now. And the next day, and the next day, and today, and tomorrow, and probably for years. This is because a significant portion of our society is broken and detached from reality, thanks in large part to social media.

While dive teams and other rescuers were desperately trying to save the lives of the immigrants from Mexico and Central America who were fixing potholes when the tragedy occurred, Crazed Anchor Maria Bartiromo was on Fox News raising the possibility it happened due to “open borders.” She said this while a sitting senator, sort of, Rick Scott, nodded along.

See, these are not just the nuttiest guys at the diner counter, or the weirdest person with 10 followers on Twitter, but the GOP establishment peddling this garbage. Every tragedy is an opportunity to be terrible about your pet horrible belief. DEI? Of course! The bridge collapsed because of the fact that the mayor of Baltimore and the governor of Maryland are Black! Or maybe it was if only white people built the bridge, or maintained it, or something, then this would have never happened. The Indian crew on a Sri Lankan vessel? An example of woke hiring!

Others were plain good-old-fashioned “lol what do experts know” garbage. Just like there were tons of skyscraper construction engineers on the Internet right after 9/11, back then forums, listservs, Yahoo Groups, etc., there are now bridge construction engineers aplenty on social media with their theories. The theories only prove that giving us the Internet was like giving five-year-olds three bowls of sugary cereal, a pack of matches, and a can of gasoline.

Baltimore’s mayor even issued a plea for it to stop.

“Don’t spread misinformation. Don’t play bridge engineer online or in the media. Remember that these are people’s family members who have lost their lives simply trying to make transit better for the rest of us,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said.

I do not have to tell you the response to that from the people he was asking to kindly knock it off.

Of course, this is just one example this week. There was another:

ICYMI: MICHIGAN Republican State Rep @matthewmaddock claimed a plane & buses with a police escort were “illegal invaders” (aka migrants) — It was the Gonzaga basketball team en route to the Sweet 16. 🏀 🤡 https://t.co/yebs3RRa40 pic.twitter.com/HurLdHpywZ

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) March 29, 2024

I regret to inform you that he did not back down and say “my bad, I got carried away.” He doubled down.

Reality just does not matter to them. And this is not good. John Kerry mentioned in an interview a little while ago that a society that does not begin debate with a shared reality is a society that will fail to function. A society where millions of people, including elected officials, instantly go to conspiracy when a tragedy happens is heading towards what Kerry is fearing.

So, regarding such nonsense, enough with the “we must listen to other opinions to understand where they are coming from” stuff. People who exist in a world not anywhere near reality are either horribly misinformed, gullible, or ill, and in any event, they should be shunned, mocked, and dismissed. They are causing too much damage to ever be given the benefit of the doubt.

The last word goes to Paramore.