Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. What about reality?

by Aditya (AD) Sahasrabudhe
asp.aditya259@gmail.com | as086919@ohio.edu

It was May 26, 10:27 am. I opened my blinds after waking up that day and witnessed the bright sun rays beaming on my face. As I usually prefer my bed and the comforter at room temperatures- cool rather than warm, the sunshine didn’t do much good to my mood. Still laying on the bed, I changed sides to avoid looking directly at the incoming rays and started scavenging Twitter on my mobile.

With most of the news headlines trite, I didn’t get enough motivation to throw myself out of the bed to either start reading any news story in its entirety or head to the restroom. The sleepy vibes continued lingering over my head which only meant if the mundane news (Twitter feeds) continued popping up, I was ready to re-snuggle in the comfort of my bed any second. However, my eyes widened up to the fullest as I stumbled upon a video of the killing of George Floyd. The publisher was Now This News, an unfamiliar news source to me at that time. I went from being a sleepyhead to getting angry and dolorous in no time. As I recall, the video I watched was just over a minute, only a portion of the entire footage. With my eyes wide open, heart moaning, and mind still in shock, I questioned the veracity of the footage. As an international, not having been a witness to such displays of police brutality against our black brethren in the past, I couldn’t digest that someone, let alone a police office could kill a man by kneeling on his neck for a minor indictment.

The immediate urge to share the video was overwhelming. Perhaps, it was because I wanted to express my anger or give voice to my other thoughts and feelings. However, the possibility of that tweet being fake was far from zero. Given the mental state and my know-how of fake news and its potential, I preferred cross-checking the story before sharing. To my surprise, I didn’t find any supporting or similar stories on CNN, Fox, and CBS. I know, it’s mindboggling, but it was May 26, only one day after the unfortunate incident took place. Perhaps, it was the oversight in my cursory search, or nothing related was posted on the above-mentioned news sites’ Twitter pages. With a heavy heart, I locked my phone, kept it on my study, had half a glass of water, and headed to the restroom. 

At that moment, I questioned whether what I saw was true or fake? I wanted to believe a man couldn’t be kneeled on for alleged minor wrongdoing, let alone be killed. Although the video garnered thousands of comments and likes, I was not ready to accept it was the reality in a frame. I had doubts lingering in my mind about the video being a demonstration of reality retouched, reality fabricated or even reality faked. Alas, I was wrong! I wish it was fake news, but this time, unfortunately, it was an unfabricated reality in a frame.

As days passed, another video emerged with three other police officials in the frame, helping Derek Chauvin restrain George Floyd. What if I had seen this video in the first place? Would I have still questioned the veracity of the story or the presence of four policemen would be of any help in sharing the video without any fact-checking? Additionally, as I recall, that video didn’t have any running commentary. What if there was a voice-over on the video or if it was a news PKG instead of raw footage? Would that have made me believe in the story? Perhaps, it would have. Or maybe not.