Last week the students and victims of the Parkland school shooting protested the issue of gun violence in America at the March For Our Lives rally. In particular, one high school student and survivor of a high school shooting, Emma Gonzalez, went viral after delivering an emotional speech that struck a chord with millions of people around the world.
During the Rally online trolls altered an image of Gonzalez's ripping up a gun target to that of the U.S. Constitution. The image went viral amongst Second Amendment supporters, voters who believe in upholding and expanding the constitutional right for all Americans to carry arms, and the alt-right movement. Although the image was proven to be altered, worryingly a number of people defended the image as gospel which resulted in a Teen Vogue editor having to clarify the difference:
At left is @tyler_mitchell’s photo of @Emma4Change for the cover of @TeenVogue. At right is what so-called “Gun Rights Activists” have photoshopped it into. #MarchForOurLives pic.twitter.com/jW6tTOv2Db
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) March 25, 2018
The fact that we even have to clarify this is proof of how democracy continues to be fractured by people who manipulate and fabricate the truth. pic.twitter.com/cpSXnvLxdA
— Phillip Picardi (@pfpicardi) March 25, 2018
Now, another picture has gone viral of Emma Gonzalez among similar sections of social media. Ludicrously, given how many people have seemed to accept it at face value, it features, not Gonzalez, but Britney Spears during her clash with the media in the early noughties. The photograph is Spears wielding an umbrella with a shaved head and has become the defining image of Spears' breakdown. The photograph has been shared by America's Last Line Of Defense who have declared it as Emma Gonzalez attacking a supporter of the Second Amendment's car:
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i am deceased pic.twitter.com/YAPHN6wd1N
— AK-47 (@Katharinetye) March 30, 2018
Unaware of the picture being 90s pop sensation Britney Spears, Second Amendment defenders are calling Emma a 'child of Satan', an example of why people need guns to protect them from "crazies" and that the purported car owner should "sue her".
As most of the comments under the photograph assumed it was Emma because of her shaved head, Twitter took iconic women from pop culture and gave them all the name Emily:
And here she is ripping up a photo of Pope Stephen VI ON LIVE TELEVISION!!!
These kids have no respect for anything! pic.twitter.com/rhGYjbM3LG
— just Another Dead Weirdo (@dead_weirdo) April 2, 2018
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or that time she saved The Five Wives. pic.twitter.com/ZLKlFdLNTd
— Casey Martinez (@MamaPhoenix6) April 3, 2018
Or worked at Empire Records. pic.twitter.com/voX7OGU1b7
— Casey Martinez (@MamaPhoenix6) April 3, 2018
Hey y'all are forgetting that Emma even starred in Stranger Things pic.twitter.com/WvG3oChLRg
— [ ⭐ ] (@MonsterchenJule) April 3, 2018
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Remember that time Emma was in V For Vendetta? pic.twitter.com/sdC1sHeR0U
— MIKE ? "2018: The Fall of Donald Trump" (@ryaninteractive) April 2, 2018
Egging on the commentators who didn't realise it was Britney Spears, people used coded Britney Spears comments to sarcastically respond to the Emma Gonzalez commentators:
This reply was the nail in the coffin. Incoherent pic.twitter.com/kCe7Lc8599
— Kathryn (@whatkathryn) April 2, 2018
Altering images of well-known faces has become a popular political defense in recent years as it confuses reality and fact from fiction. The altering of images was used to spread fake news during the 2016 American Presidential Election. A picture depicting Hillary Clinton's ill health was circulating online as she was helped by aides up a set of stairs. Clinton had tripped and was being helped by her aides. The average person is willing to accept a photograph as evidence which suggests why they've become the most popular way of spreading fake news. One Twitter user worryingly hit the nail on the head:
I literally can’t breathe ??? If a civil war breaks out, it’s going to be between the uncultured and the popcultured
— Chrysoula (@c_margaritaa) April 2, 2018
