Factually inaccurate, easily impeached, and ideologically-driven agitprop is still factually inaccurate, easily impeached, and ideologically-driven agitprop however many times it’s shared on the web.

Not only is the paper in question not a “paper of record” but, rather, a freebie full of social life and celebrity stories handed out at “L” stations to push tanning salon and nightclub promotions onto the young demographic it targets, with a few truncated stories from the Tribune (its publisher) thrown in to make it seem just a tad more “newsy,” but the “info” on the napkin is also completely inaccurate. 

Not only is the neighborhood in question not at all a “white neighborhood,” but , although the napkin makes no such claims, it is somehow implied by the throngs of people sharing the photo that the victim was also white when not only was this never revealed, it’s very likely to be untrue as well.

At best, the original poster was being intentionally misleading, and has little to no notion of how newspapers actually work. At worst, they were looking to stoke the flames of righteous indignation, with a racial angle, facts be damned, for reasons only they can possibly know.

The truly sad (and scary) thing is that thousands of people have and will continue to see and share it since it validates their own worldview without ever realizing that it’s largely a fiction. Scores of people are viewing it as an indictment of “racist journalism” without bothering to take the time to honor one of journalism’s most important principles and “check it out” themselves.

This sort of rapid sharing of pictures and information has never been easier, or more popular, than it has been in the age of social media. As long as you agree with a given worldview, or ideology, I suppose this might not be terribly troubling. Human history, however, is rife with half-truths and lies being spread like wildfire only to see real human lives caught up in, and destroyed, by those flames.