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A short thread on *ssholes & conspiracies:
We all know amplification of conspiracy theories — usually in the form of a question — by right wing media has become standard fare to harden views.
“Can we be SURE Clinton didn’t kill Seth Rich?” Etc. (Note: she didn’t) /1
We all know amplification of conspiracy theories — usually in the form of a question — by right wing media has become standard fare to harden views.
“Can we be SURE Clinton didn’t kill Seth Rich?” Etc. (Note: she didn’t) /1
“How do we KNOW Chavez didn’t use Dominion to steal the election from beyond the grave?” (Note: because he’s dead FFS)
Posing it as “questions that need to be answered maybe” allows them to evade responsibility for what they are doing. It’s standard fare. /2
Posing it as “questions that need to be answered maybe” allows them to evade responsibility for what they are doing. It’s standard fare. /2
Why do I raise this?
So you may remember when Notre Dame burned in April 2019 — a tragic accident. Online conspiracy theories immediately flourished. One claimed the fire was an act of Islamic terror. Many right wing personalities amplified this lie. /3
So you may remember when Notre Dame burned in April 2019 — a tragic accident. Online conspiracy theories immediately flourished. One claimed the fire was an act of Islamic terror. Many right wing personalities amplified this lie. /3
It was a pathway that sounds familiar: established conspiracist makes something up, posts it, deletes it; in the meantime it has become and infowars story; global Kremlin narrative accounts amplify; this cluster includes Posobiec/OAN, Cernovich etc /4 https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/janelytvynenko/notre-dame-hoax-timeline
Eventually (like, within 24 hours), Tucker Carlson, king clown *sshole of lies that kill people, runs a segment on it. Some nutter makes allegations. Tucker is incredulous (as per usual)
By then it’s canon and will echo around the internet forever /5
By then it’s canon and will echo around the internet forever /5
Important to remember this is always positioned as “why won’t the liberal lamestream media TELL YOU THE TRUTH about this hideous crime” (against Christianity and white people, usually)
Note: it isn’t in the NYT because it isn’t true. /6
Note: it isn’t in the NYT because it isn’t true. /6
In November, a man who believed the fire conspiracy killed 2 people while trying to blow up a mosque in France in retaliation for the fire. The French far right had also been using the conspiracy to rail against immigrants blah blah same page of music /7 https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5dc2fd22e4b0d8eb3c8e8a91
People believe this stuff. It exploits a bias, & it can radicalize them, pushing them to more extreme views. As it becomes a meme and continues to rattle around the internet, the echo goes deep into the mind. For some, the lie is proof of great injustice that must be answered /8
The guy who drove 6 hours to shoot up a pizza parlor thinking he was liberating enslaved children heard an echo.
Some people who ended up at the Capitol thinking they were saving freedom heard an echo. /9
Some people who ended up at the Capitol thinking they were saving freedom heard an echo. /9
Why do I bring up Notre Dame?
Because this is how Ben Shapiro gets to play respectable nextgen conservative, then launder radicalized conspiracy to his audience.
And this is how Don Jr amplifies it to remind people who the Trumps always were.
Stop normalizing these people /x
Because this is how Ben Shapiro gets to play respectable nextgen conservative, then launder radicalized conspiracy to his audience.
And this is how Don Jr amplifies it to remind people who the Trumps always were.
Stop normalizing these people /x
