"Reports that extremists are setting wildfires in Oregon are untrue."
FBI, Portland, on Friday
Facebook announces it is removing posts spreading false rumors about the cause of the fires.
Too late. People who want to blame it on Antifa have done their work.
Yesterday:
"Peter, did you hear? SWAT teams arrested six of the people who travelled around and set all the fires on purpose. It was Antifa. They did it so police would be busy and they could rob houses, to fund a revolution. They send the money they steal to George Soros. The Antifa people, they're all on his payroll."
A resident of Phoenix, Oregon, whose house narrowly escaped burning.
He said he heard all about it from someone who "got the real truth, straight from people who heard it from people who talked with the police."
I asked if he was sure. "Absolutely sure. I got the information from people who know what's really going on," he said.
Rumors are circulating, and they are political and weaponized. Some of it is in fact coming from law enforcement. A uniformed sheriff deputy in the Portland area was videotaped telling a person it was all due to Antifa. "Antifa motherfuckers are out here causing hell," he was shown saying. The Clackamas County Sheriff said that as soon as he learned of the incident the deputy was put on administrative leave.
His comments went viral. Facebook and Twitter are the engines of spread.
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| Douglas County Sheriff |
One of the sources--or accelerants--of the rumor about Antifa and George Soros was Q-Anon, which posted a link to a tweet by Paul Joseph Romero, Jr., an unsuccessful candidate for U.S. Senate.
It is untrue, the sheriff of Douglas County, Oregon protested in a Facebook announcement, noting that his office was inundated by calls from people inquiring about the source of fires there, blaming Antifa.
No, not Antifa, and please, please stop spreading rumors, their sheriff pleaded:
"Remember when we said rumors make this already difficult incident even harder? Rumors spread just like wildfire and now our 9-1-1 disputers are being overrun with requests for information and inquires on an UNTRUE rumor that 6 Antifa members have been arrested for setting fires in DOUGLAS COUNTY OREGON.
THIS IS NOT TRUE! Unfortunately, people are spreading this rumor and it is causing problems.
Do your part, STOP. SPREADING. RUMORS!"
The City of Medford's Police Department has been busy trying to stop Facebook posts that have used the logo of the department to spread a parallel rumor, this one that the fires were caused by the Trump-supporting Proud Boys. Police spokesman Mike Budreau told the local public radio station, Jefferson Public Radio, “When we have to stop and constantly address these false rumors it just takes our time away from that. But we have to, because we don’t want our community believing these things and being in any more upset or stressed out than they are already."
Rumors, Budreau said, are "basically pouring gasoline on the fire."
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| Click: JPR |
Facebook, responding to the fact that both local law enforcement and the FBI calls these rumors of Antifa's involvement false, has taken the unusual step of removing posts that spread this misinformation. Too late. People already heard from a friend who had the real skinny.
The rumors spread because authoritative information comes out slower than people's curiosity demands. People are missing and their relatives and friends are frantic with worry. People whose homes and phones are destroyed may be out of contact, so are reported "missing."
"Were there fatalities? People are looking but bodies are slow to find in the rubble. Even authoritative sources get things wrong. An early report counted five human bodies, but this was revised to four when one of the remains was determined not to have been human. The local Jackson County sheriff's department is posting press notices on their official website, Click: Sheriff, and on Facebook. The information may be slow, but it is authoritative and is corrected as new facts come in.
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| CNN: Jackson County Search and Rescue |
It is bearing false witness, sure, but if weren't a weren't a temptation there would be no need to forbid it.
7 comments:
Simple answers to complicated questions are what people want. Blame the fires on political enemies, or on homeless vagrants. - simple answers. Global Climate Change is complicated. For starters, it involves math...... and Science. Give me a break! And the solution is not only complicated, but it involves everyday people making sacrifices they don’t want to make. Give up my gas guzzler 4x4.... I don’t think so. Take a bus to work.... seriously!
And of course finding a convenient boogie man is always a phenomenally successful way to distract from the truth. Welfare Queens, International Zionist Conspiracy, Antifa...
All useful. So who benefits from distracting us from the complicated reasons for the expotential increase in droughts and fires? Follow the money.
Let’s look at history. Nero burned Rome and blamed the Christins. Hitler burned the Reichstag and blamed the Communists and his opponents. With social media it’s easier for anyone to post a meme or photo or conspiracy theory and circulate it as true among like minded and predisposed people. The answer is often nuanced. In our culture the stories of Nero and Hitler are well known and this familiarity predisposes us to believe something nefarious is happening.
Conspiracy theories flourish when trust has broken down. We would do well to consider why trust has broken down.
By all indications, the origin of the Almeda fire (at the very northern tip of Ashland) was arson, and so later was a fire same day down the road. Only the details on the transient, long criminal history, methamphetamine user have been released. Another fire in Eagle Point hours later, and Central Point the next day?
Coincidence =/ cause but it’s gotta make you wonder.
WHO would do this and why I have no idea, but as a near lifelong resident of the Rogue Valley, these are not our usual fires. People *should be* suspicious, and authorities should be in more of a hurry to tell them what they know,
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice. (Robert Frost)
Trump, Covid, Fire...is that a fourth horseman I hear galloping our way?
Andy Seles
https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2020/09/suspicious-fires-break-out-in-linn-county-authorities-seek-vehicle-of-interest.html
Antifascists not Antifa
Who knows an Antifa member? They deny belonging to an organized group. They saved Dr Cornel West from being attacked by the white supremacists in Charlottesville. Forget the word Antifa...say Antifascists...easy to attack a nickname that doesn’t express the purpose of the name. Now why would the antifascists want to set forest fires or drive all the way down from Portland to Grants Pass Wheeler Toyota’s car lot to burn the huge American flag flying over The Baskin Robbins store next door? What kind of political statement would that make? Armed men showed up to protect the flag, climbed up on the roof of the ice cream store with a long gun after reading an internet communication. So who shows up to protect the fascists, armed good people. “Jews will not replace us”. No sir-eeee.
Sent from my iPad
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