What I’m Watching Happen Online Is Alarming.

“Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left.” - Proverbs 4:25-27

“My son, do not lose sight of these—keep sound wisdom and discretion.” – Proverbs 3:21

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.” - 2 Timothy 4:3

As of this writing, a GoFundMe honoring Lindsey Clancy has raised almost one million dollars. The comments offer us important insights into what is happening amongst both liberal and conservative women, en masse.

“I know it feels like it now, but your not alone Lindsay. Your emotion and love for your babies is felt through the screen. From 1 mom whose been through psychosis to another - i just want to wrap my arms around you and shower you with love and support. You ARE a wonderful mom. It wasnt you that day. It may have been your body, but it certainly wasnt your mind or thoughts. - from a kentucky mom”

“One thing is clear: Lindsay was a good mom and she loved her kids. Wishing her and her family peace.”

“Lindsay, as a momma, you have my complete support. I send you all of my strength and courage. What you are having to endure is unimaginable. You have no idea how many women are behind you and your family. You are not alone.”

There are thousands of similar comments. Almost all shower Lindsey Clancy with love, share solidarity with her plight, and tell her what a good and loving mother she was (and is). The donations range from just a few dollars to multiple donations of $10,000+. These gifts are all trickling in while her trial is active and ongoing. Very few comments even mention the names of Patrick and Lindsey Clancy’s murdered children.

This morning I made the mistake of opening X, and immediately I felt ill. The first post I came across was of a woman filming herself holding her baby in various locations, feeding and rocking her to sleep. The child was sucking on a pacifier, and at one point, her little hand lovingly brushed her mama’s face and chest. In each frame, the woman was crying, and only two words appeared on the screen:

“Same, Lindsey.”

As much as I’d like to tell you that this video is a one-off, an anomaly, I can not. If working in social media has taught me anything, it’s that I have a broad, near-complete view of real-time online trends, and what I am currently observing is a terrifying break from reality. Women all over the country and the world have decided that Lindsey Clancy is an avatar for the modern woman dealing with PPD. I’ve seen hundreds of videos of crying women claiming, “This could have been me!” I’ve seen my fair share of footage of grown women hanging out of second-story windows, cosplaying as Clancy, in order to prove that she was, in fact, thrown out by her husband, rather than attempting her own suicide. I’ve watched as a growing number of women conflate PPD with PPP and declare definitively that they know what she was going through, and they believe she is a loving mother with no agency whatsoever, and that the murder of her children is the fault of everyone around her.

Respectfully, this is madness.

The trial isn’t over, and I’m not a part of the jury. I’m not the judge or the lawyers, and I don't know what the verdict will be. The goal of this article is not to litigate the words or intentions of every witness. The goal is to point out a social contagion that’s tentacles are ensnaring many females.

What may possibly have begun as a healthy skepticism of authority, establishments, and institutions has metastasized into a bizarre (and dangerous) mind hive that is sinking its teeth into perpetually online women. I’ve watched it with the Candace Owens crowd - hanging on her every word and waiting with bated breath to see what she “reveals” next, in order to crack some sort of imaginary code. These become soap opera dramas to these ladies, but with real-life implications.

And that's precisely what the Lindsey Clancy case has turned into. Women took to to platforms like X and IG, and firmly declared, within moments of the trial beginning, that Patrick was actually the murderer, that Lindsey was drugged by him and others, that she had no help, and that she was absolutely the victim. Furthermore, these social media detectives confidently claim they understand what she was going through and that it could have been them just as easily.

Again, respectfully, this is madness.

The defense is not arguining that Lindsey Clancy didn’t, in fact, committ the murders. They are not positing that she didn’t wrap an exercise band around one child, watch that child die, and then move on to do the same to the other two. She has stated she did do it. This has not stopped online warriors from adopting and lending full support to Lindsey, assuming it was all the fault of both her husband (the “real” killer) and the medical community.

I am struggling with this phenomenon. I believe there is a desperate contingent of women who, for whatever reason, are willing to stake their claim and identify with a woman who admitted to strangling her children and tried to kill herself. But WHY?

I think the answer is multifaceted, but my simple guess is that many have immersed themselves in a saturated online environment that glamorizes true crime so much that it’s treated like a game. Marry that with the need for so many women to “speak their truth” and be “seen,” and you have a perfect storm. There’s an entire cottage industry rising right now that has determined that they are the arbiters of justice and truth, and they, and they alone, understand the inner workings of the mind and soul. Because they once struggled after childbirth, they are now medical doctors.

Here’s the rub, though. Having a child and enduring the hormonal swings that accompany postpartum can indeed be a struggle. PPD exists, and it’s real. I know this personally. It can be a true challenge. And yes, medication is overprescribed, and Big Pharma/the medical industrial complex can be deeply corrupt. All these things can be true, but so can the following:

Postpartum depression is not the same as postpartum psychosis; they are not even in the same ballpark. Talking about them interchangeably makes someone ignorant at best and voluntarily deceptive at worst.

To the women acting like they “get it” and state with ease that they could very well have been Lindsey…STOP AND THINK. No, it couldn’t have been you because it wasn’t. You did not murder your children. This case has gripped so many hearts because it’s rare. Women acting like they have a kinship with Lindsey is bizarrely warped and shows the disembodiment we, as a culture, have accepted. They stare into a dark screen to go seeking community, and the constant flickering has detached them from reality. They replace reality with a fan-fiction that affirms whatever preconceived notion they had, or soothes their guilt for mistakes they themselves may have made as a mother. They reinforce insidious tropes based far more on feelings than facts.

We trust no one.

Everything is fake.

Everyone is lying to us all the time.

The bad guy is actually the good guy.

We are the victims who have the answers and the secret insight.

Deeper still, I think what we are watching, on both the right and the left, is a profound sense of soul emptiness, supported by unlimited automation, leaving women with a vaccum to fill. In the absense of Christ’s wisdom and discernment, it can feel natural to cling to a “community”, even if it’s not real. We desire control and understanding of evil but when we go searching for answers apart from the Lord, we can inadvertently (or on purpose) become the very darkness we seek to avoid.

The saddest part of this online display? The fact that you rarely (if ever) hear the names Cora, Dawson, and Callan in any of these online reality show reels. In their selfish efforts to bring awareness to how the medical system has failed Lindsey (and thereby she would be found innocent), they refuse to discuss who actually deserves justice the most.

The three little souls, created by the Almighty God, who were murdered in cold blood, one after the next. Innocent and robbed of their personhood and chance to live. I believe that this omission is on purpose. To speak of those three children would make them accountable for excusing Lindsey and her actions. Mentioning those babies would require them to take their eyes off themselves and their imagined relationship with Lindsey. It would force them to confront the fact that sometimes evil just happens, and we might not have comfortable answers or solutions. It would require them to stop making everything about them, in a narcasstic pursuit to gain followers or commisseration.

This phenomenon is developing, and my guess is the spiral will continue its descent; once a resolution is found, the masses will move on to the next case or story that tickles their ears and makes them reach for their tinfoil hat. And still, my prayer remains that swift justice occurs and one by one, women will set down their screens and their hearts will be turned toward the truest offer of hope and peace when they feel caught in the quicksand of a wicked, detached world.

Lord, help us.