Did Wasserman Schultz sit? Really?

Did she or didn’t she?

OK, get your mind out of the gutter. You won’t find anything kinky here today.

Instead, it’s about the nameless, faceless, no-life people on social media who have nothing better to do than sit in their mother’s basement in their underwear and deal in rumor and gossip.

The latest one involves Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the congresswoman from Weston. The mere mention of her name causes conservatives to develop hives. This time, the controversy — or fake controversy — is over whether she stood for both ovations for Carryn Owens, widow of Navy SEAL Ryan Owens, at Donald Trump’s address to Congress last week.

Yeah, that’s the issue that had Twitter geeks and much of social media riled up. Video clips of who was doing what in the audience when Carryn Owens was introduced have been analyzed and parsed and dissected more than the Zapruder film. I had one emailer tell me the proof that Wasserman Schultz sat while others stood can be found at time stamp 1:23.10 on the video. I swear I am not making that up.

After I wrote about this online for The Buzz, there were people telling me to check at 49:03 of the speech video if I wanted proof. There were dueling stories online saying Wasserman Schultz did — or didn’t — stand, and did or didn’t stand long enough or clap.

There were photos posted on Twitter of Wasserman Schultz and fellow Congressman Keith Ellison sitting, apparently not showing respect for Owens. Then the photos were refuted when it was discovered they were from a different part of the speech, not when Carryn Owens was introduced. Much of this reportedly started with a blogger. Wasserman Schultz even found herself on CNN the night after the speech — after the sit or stand controversy heated up — and basically called the whole thing a bunch of lies.

Hey, I go on Twitter a lot, mainly for sports and news updates. And yes, I get into debates on Twitter. But I can’t stand the fact people go on various sites anonymously, say whatever they want whether it’s true or not, and then hope it catches fire and spreads. I can’t understand why so much credence is given to comments from people who often don’t have the guts to use their name.

There is a whole lot going on in the country that deserves more attention than who was sitting or standing during Trump’s speech. I expect any day to see a bumper sticker sweeping the nation that says “Honk if you secretly talked to Russians,” and yet too many folks are more concerned about checking a time stamp on a video of somebody sitting. Or standing.

I don’t know how much time Wasserman Schultz spent sitting or on her feet during the speech, although there is video of her standing and clapping when Carryn Owens was first introduced. Fact is, this was the kind of speech where half the people won’t stand for anything if they are from a different party than the president. Presidents of both parties often use props to get applause at speeches like this, and there are those — including me — who think Carryn Owens was used by Trump as a prop.

I assume all of this will die down soon, until the social media fanatics come up with the next molehill they can make into a viral mountain. I would suggest those folks get a life, but Twitter is their life.

As the tweeter-in-chief might say, SAD!

Gary Stein