North Carolina authorities arrest armed man after threats against FEMA workers
North Carolina authorities arrest armed man after threats against FEMA workers
The actions underscore growing concerns about safety and security of federal emergency personnel in western North Carolina amid a raft of misinformation.
What the actual fuck do these nutjobs think the FEMA workers are doing? Looting? Registering non-citizens to vote? Eating the dogs? What?
As someone who used to be one of those nutjobs many years ago; there was an extreme mistrust of FEMA, and the main conspiracy at the time was that the New World Order would someday use FEMA to begin rounding up people to be put into concentration camps, and had millions of plastic coffins waiting to be deployed for the people who resist.
We fully believed that with every fiber of our being, and if we had seen a FEMA response to a disaster, especially if communications were down, we'd probably just assume the end times were upon us and that they chose this time while we were vulnerable to strike.
Religion is a hell of a drug that can paralyze critical thinking skills beyond comprehension.
One day I'd like to pick your brain (not today, I'm drinking). I've always been nutjob adjacent but the only time I believed was as a kid and that stopped when the pastor of the church my family attended started using stupid math to force the letters in COMPUTER to add up to 666. That was literally the beginning of the end for me. I was also into conspiracies in my 20s but I thought it was like no_sleep where we pretended to believe in wacky things because it was funny. Turns out it wasn't funny to most of them, which I found out during some fiasco where people were sure the military was about to take over because of Obama or something.
I always wanted to hear from someone who was deep into some shit but figured out it was all bullshit. Keep spreading that knowledge because it is super interesting and it's important for others to see that you can absolutely get out of it.
If I had to guess, it's something to the effect of "FEMA will come in, give you $750 for your home, then send you to a tent, leaving you both permanently displaced and destitute." It's not true, but it seems like the kind of thing that would catch on amongst the conspiratorial-minded.
conspiracy theorists will fear things like this and then be against social programs to help the homeless get housing again
They haven't trusted FEMA since at least the Clinton administration. They see the emergency powers FEMA can invoke and they get all worked up about "muh freedoms."
FEMA has a webpage for catalogging and responding to rumors about the hurricane response, though I don't see any as extreme as the ones mentioned in this thread: https://www.fema.gov/disaster/recover/rumor/hurricane-rumor-response
I'm skeptical of how much this will help after seeing how misinformation spread during COVID, but at least they're trying.
I think the people who need to have these rumors debunked wouldn't trust a .gov website. They'll believe a random fb post though.
They are pussies who don’t want a real fight they want soft targets to terrorize. Let a neighborhood watch post up with their own ARs and watch them scuttle back to their moving trucks.
So bullies.
I remember reading FEMA conspiracies on the internet 20 years ago. The bit I remember is that FEMA is going to use a diaster to round up anyone not a milquetoast "sheeple" and put them in concentration camps as part of ushering in the New World Order. Wikipedia has an article on it that covers the basics -- it dates back to 1982.
The website I saw had pictures of the backs of street signs, claiming the stickers and blemishes from the factory were "semaphores" that FEMA could use as route markers to said concentration camps. It was wild.
They’re comin’ to take our guns!!! Live free or die.
People are going to die. FEMA workers could get murdered, but a lack of FEMA services will kill people too.
I'm way too drunk to have a civilized conversation, but I just want to say:
What the fuck Americans, get your shit together. I know, free speech and freedom and stuff. But every fucking thing has its limit.
Lie endangers people? Person lying responsible, get fine.
I don't care if he did it personally, if Trump riles up his braindead crowds, he's responsible. He go court, court go brrrrr.
I'm so drunk 😐
IDK if you knew Trump before he got into politics, but he's always been really good at walking the edge of liability hyping stuff up, moving from one controversy to the next before it can even stick.
Our system has always kinda allowed for this, but he's exploited it to the max.
Even drunk you are making more sense than the MAGAts.
I helped people do sign ups for FEMA assistance in one of the impacted areas. Many were older and just needed help with the forms. Or didn't have Internet. Some just needed money for groceries, one lost both his job and apartment. All really need help and were already living on the edge. Many were retired and on a fixed income. Idiots spreading rumors hurt these people by delaying help.
That man is a actual terrorist. They should treat him as such