Misinformation, disinformation and yet another case for boycotting the internet: The day Anthony Richardson didn’t become a Patriot

I vaguely remember life without the internet.  To gather and verify relevant tidbits of information, we relied upon things like newspapers (remember those?), television programs (that aired live and weren’t streamed or watched on a whim) and telephones that once had to be connected to a wall.

Rumors of big sports trades came via SportsCenter, back then a watchable, entertaining and informative program.

These days, even more so with the advent of AI, anyone can post anything at any time, and have it consumed and believed, starting a downward spiral of perilous information.

There was once merit in scooping a story, being the first person to report something newsworthy.  Far more merit, however, came with getting the story right.  These days, anyone with a cellphone and Facebook account is a media member, hence the term social media.  Any person can relay to another a million miles away a story they will believe.  I mean, why would they lie?  That’s not to say this was never the case, it’s simply more prevalent now with broader reach and more people readily gullible to pay attention to bullshit.

Therein lay the difference between misinformation and disinformation.  I’m no dictionary but as I understand it, misinformation is the unintentional spreading of falsehoods while disinformation is the exact opposite.

And that’s how, for only a moment, in one person’s mind and then contagiously in others until I put an end to it, Anthony Richardson became a New England Patriot.

As BCole and I spent a glorious afternoon shopping and dining around beautiful Tampa Bay, we walked into a sporting goods store specializing in gear supporting most Florida sports teams: the good (Gators, Buccaneers and Lightning), the bad (Dolphins, Hurricanes) and the ugly (the Florida State Seminoles).

We were browsing when a gentleman behind the counter, probably making too much money for his job description, shouted “Anthony Richardson is a Patriot?!?”  So much for customer service.

Dubiously, I acknowledged, understanding that while NFL teams are always looking to better themselves, the Indianapolis Colts were hardly about to give up on Anthony Richardson, despite his dreadful sophomore year performance.

As if I was interested, said store clerk proceeded to show me his cell phone displaying the (either mis- or) dis-information about Richardson, showing him rather poorly photoshopped with a New England Patriots background.  At first glance, it appeared to come from some bogus Twitter profile, of which there are far too many.  Clearly this guy hadn’t spent much time in Muskville, where your inflated follower-count includes scantily clad, fake porn star profiles carefully designed to boost your sense of self-importance by occasionally saying “Hello” and thumbing up anything you post.  The app is becoming a far less entertaining source for doomscrolling.

It didn’t take long for me to debunk this poor sap’s Richardson myth.  In only his third year, there is no way on God’s green turf that the Colts don’t continue to kick the tires on the Florida product.  Even the addition of Daniel Jones was only to light a fire under his ass.

Additionally, the Patriots have their quarterback of the future, a tall kid named Drake Maye, who already looks better than Richardson in half the games played.

I responded to the clerk in kind, wondering why he’d even believe such a rumor, assuming he couldn’t be as much an NFL fan as I am, which is probably the case for about 90% of America.

He then went on to mumble something about the Patriots’ young, talented back-up Joe Milton, who the team may end up regrettably trading, but a Milton for Richardson deal, as the bullshit peddler went on to propose, made zero sense for anyone who even remotely follows the game.

I stood my ground, refusing to believe the nonsense this fellow had bought hook, line and sinker, but I bit, nonetheless.  Upon leaving the store, I turned to my phone to see if there was any proof of this misinformation. 

I found no such thing.

So, who knows why, these internet sources barf out random disinformation.  Is it to keep us all intentionally confused while the world crumbles around us?  Perhaps we could better focus our efforts on stopping these hack accounts from saying things just to get a rise out of people.  It has become annoying and to be perfectly honest, a grotesque waste of everyone’s time.

My dear friends, I hereby propose a call to arms against both the misinformed and blatant spreaders of disinformation.  “Anthony Richardson is not a Patriot!”  Shout it from the rooftops the next time someone spreads a rumor with no grounds, no basis and some shoddy, careless photoshop.

Perhaps only then can we abolish these bogus accounts along with those who create them and live in a world where the B.S. is kept to a healthy minimum.

One can dream.

Please follow and like us: