Storms Helene and Milton have triggered rise of misinformation stoked by Trump and fellow Republicans
Meteorologists tracking the advance of Hurricane Milton have been targeted by a deluge of conspiracy theories that they were controlling the weather, abuse and even death threats, amid what they say is an unprecedented surge in misinformation as two major hurricanes have hit the US.
A series of falsehoods and threats have swirled in the two weeks since Hurricane Helene tore through six states causing several hundred deaths, followed by Milton crashing into Florida on Wednesday.
The extent of the misinformation, which has been stoked by Donald Trump and his followers, has been such that it has stymied the ability to help hurricane-hit communities, according to the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).
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Killing education is definitely a big part of it, but controlling every news source in huge areas and pumping outright lies and disinformation 24/7 can eventually break down anyone living in that environment.
These people desperately cling to hierarchy. Bad people go to jail, good people don’t.
These people never hear about Trump being bad, and only see him slip though the law effortlessly.
All they see is Trump being innocent and not getting in trouble at all, ever, for anything. Half of all politics and nearly all Media hide or obfuscate Trump’s insanity and incompetence.
So many voters see a president everyone they know and talk to adores, getting dragged by Democrats to no effect.
“If he was guilty he’d be in Jail, but since he’s not in jail Democrats must be liars and everything Republicans say about him is true.”
Easy, thoughtless conclusions that reinforce their worldview and solidify them as supremely correct.
Now, they’ll certainly move the goalposts once he is in Jail, because they will also never admit they were wrong about anything because if they’re wrong about Trump, they’re wrong about their entire worldview and that’s something they are not mentally able to do.
Yet they’re the same group that will accuse Russia, China and a whole bunch of other countries of lying to their citizens and controlling them with propaganda.
There’s a long history of Americans and other Westerners thinking it’s all those other countries that do propaganda. Meanwhile, the less propaganda you see, the more effectively the propaganda is working on you. Americans are some of the most propagandized people in the world.
No, the same group will praise Russia for being strong and their citizens being in line, and will say something incredibly racist about China. These people aren’t informed enough to have opinions about the police-states of other countries, and the talking heads at Fox News don’t vomit one into their mouths.
I think its a very specific kind of person myself. Noy necessarily stupid, although many of them are.
To me, the person they target the best is both A) people who are easy to wind up and B) the kind who’ll, despite even knowing they know nothing about a given subject, will, if they hear something they just don’t like, will declare it to be bullshit and will never, ever back down from that regardless.
Killing education is definitely a big part of it, but controlling every news source in huge areas and pumping outright lies and disinformation 24/7 can eventually break down anyone living in that environment.
“From long exposure to tv equipment those unlucky, who were left without intellect, will be on your side”
Nah. That’s bullshit. You don’t have to be a high school graduate to discern fact from fiction here. The issue is much deeper and broader. Anything the government does, the Democrat government does, is bad because they’re out for you. You need to dig deeper in to why these people are falling prey to the brainwashing of the far right extremism and conspiracy theories. A lot of these people are very well educated. Fear of the unknown is far more powerful than a college degree. I’m not knowledgable enough on the subject but I’m sure a handful of books have been written about how people fell for Hitler’s regime.
From my experience, it seems to me that 99.9% of people commenting on the internet lack critical thinking. Looking at Reddit in particular, it’s the comments that are the most outlandish or “popular” and often having little or nothing to do with the story they’re commenting on that are risen to the top. No one cares about the actual news. They’re engaged with headlines and chit chat. If the story takes a turn, if it no longer “supports their narrative”, they turn tail and move on to the next thing to fume over.
We’re generally focused on the maga crowd in the context of this story but the truth is that we are all subject to and fooled by misleading content. And when you, as an actual intelligent person with actual critical thinking skills, or just someone who read the article, tries to call attention to the fact that a headline is misleading or outright wrong, you get downvoted. So, why is that the case?
Also, fwiw, I have a shitty education, I’m not very smart, but I believe I have better critical thinking skills than the majority of people.
You need to dig deeper in to why these people are falling prey to the brainwashing of the far right extremism and conspiracy theories
Why is it my job to try harder to understand them rather than their job to stop being such buffoons?
Because if you just keep calling them buffoons without giving a flying fuck about them, you are responsible for the divide. If you believe you’re the more intelligent person, if you believe you are right, you have an obligation to listen to them and help them out of their mess. We have all been brainwashed for generations by corporate and government interests. None of us have a clear mind. We should all be working together and embracing each other in spite of our differences to rise up against our oppressors. Frankly, your question sounds just as stupid as they do. You can answer for yourself why you may or may not be interested being a helpful empathetic soul.
