Gaslighting & manufacturing normal to minimize concerns is not the right direction to go in.
The coverage of threats by the media and the statements from community leaders are an exercise in elite panic, and that's certainly not what we need.
WVIA - Immigration changes, misinformation leave NEPA communities fearful By Kat Bolus | WVIA News, Roger DuPuis | WVIA News, Lydia McFarlane | WVIA News, Sarah Hofius Hall | WVIA News Published January 23, 2025 at 4:23 PM EST The message went viral on social media. An anonymous poster in a Facebook group was looking for volunteers to help distribute hundreds of posters in South Scranton. "Report illegal aliens," the poster screamed in big black letters, with a phone number and internet tip page. "There is nowhere to hide," it added. The number and website were legitimate contacts for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but there was no official logo or other indication that the message came from the government agency. Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti said the flyer making its rounds on the internet is not "home grown." "That is a stock flyer that has been going around the internet in a lot of cities across the country," she said. A regional ICE spokesperson said the agency was under a "stand-down" order limiting communication with the media, but denied the agency had any involvement with the flyer.
The only people panicking are the people in charge.
Foreign Policy Magazine - The Only People Panicking Are the People in Charge. The public can handle disasters better than lying leaders can. By Malka Older - September 16, 2020, 6:16 PM It’s a staple trope of movies and TV shows. But there are more than 50 years of disaster studies demonstrating that people don’t do that in real life. As early as 1954, E.L. Quarantelli, who later founded the Disaster Research Center, had enough data to suggest that panic after a disaster was “uncommon.” Studies of disasters—from hurricanes to snowstorms isolating people in highway rest stops to the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11—show that the public does not panic, does not run screaming, and typically reacts in a reasonably rational way. In fact, studies show that people tend to react in highly social ways after a catastrophe; the first assistance to victims almost invariably comes from nonprofessionals, and affected people tend to come together and organize to improve their situation. My own anecdotal experience as a disaster responder supports this conclusion.
It's like people in positions of leadership wish we would just submit quietly so as not to inconvenience them. The rest of us wonder who’s going to keep people safe and to reign in the threats? They signed up for this. I don’t want assurances that the threats aren’t real, I want to see someone take a position that says the threats are wrong, and that steps will be taken to prevent injustices or even maybe atrocities.
I don’t know why anyone, much less the mayor, would assume none of this could be “home grown” or that reporters wouldn’t push back on that assertion – considering just the day before WVIA published a story about the bunch of J6 insurrectionists who were pardoned and now let loose, emboldened to who knows what.
They make it sound like because ICE isn’t actually putting out these fliers officially from the agency itself that there’s nothing to worry about. I’m not sure why they would assume that, considering everything that’s happened, and historical precedents. Not to mention sedevacantists inciting Catholics to stand against “progressives” including clergy, who they malign as enemies of Christ.
Times-Tribune Opinion Page Letter to the Editor, January 6th 2024 print edition “Pope and progressives subvert Catholic traditions Editor: Catholic Bishop Joseph Strick- land stated that he is being removed from his office because he “threatened some of the powers that be with the truth of the gospel.” We know from reports that factions in Rome led by Pope Francis want the gos- pel changed and ignored – the truth that is gloriously not going to go away. The truth that is Jesus Christ, his mystical body, which is the Church, all the wonders that the martyrs died for and the saints lived for through almost 2,000 years since Christ died and rose. According to LifeSiteNews, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the pope’s U.S. apostolic nuncio, earlier con- fronted Strickland and said he needed to stop talking about the deposit of faith, and that there is no deposit of faith. Catholic teaching is the deposit of faith carried down through the centuries from Jesus’ teaching through the apostles and church fathers. It is shocking this pope wants to change the deposit of faith to suit progressive ideology. Traditionally, if you don’t believe in the deposit of faith, you’re not Catholic. Deposit of faith is what the church has always taught. The Scriptures tell us that Jesus Christ is the face of truth. Truth does not change from when he died on the cross and rose for us. He is the same Lord; he is the way, the truth and the life. Those who want to change or contradict the word of God will not prevail, according to church teaching. Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, former U.S. apostolic nuncio, said, “This affair will reveal who stands with the true Church of Christ and who chooses to stand with his declared enemies. To remain silent… is to make oneself complicit with a subverter.” The declared enemies of Jesus and his faithful are progressives, now including clergy. Jerry Notaro, Kelayres.”
But clearly the problematic hedge fund owned Times-Tribune is saying that threats are all just a fizzled nothingburger.
Call to distribute flyers in South Scranton encouraging reports of illegal immigration fizzles By Geraldine Gibbons | The Times-Tribune UPDATED: January 23, 2025 at 4:28 PM EST So, Cognetti is hopeful the person behind the post is simply a “keyboard warrior,” rather than a community member. The flyer, she said, is an example of fearmongering that continues in the community, stronger now that President Donald Trump has made executive orders that target particular people. “I think it’s important that we continue to be vigilant about information that we see online,” she said. “Making sure we are trafficking in real facts and also calling attention to these things, because it is important that we know what is going around and what information or misinformation people are getting.” When asked about reports of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arresting people in the city, Cognetti said she was still in the process of gathering information and would be meeting with Police Chief Thomas Carroll. “Generally speaking, as we sit here today, most of that is just rumors,” she said. “Some people across the nation and sadly in our community, too, want to instill fear in their neighbors, and that is not what Scranton is built on.” She noted that city police are not an arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Those type of reports, she said, would be made to ICE, a federal agency.”
I don’t think this is the correct usage of “fearmongering” which refers to the act of making people worried about something that’s unlikely to happen or preposterous. What people spreading these rumours and distributing fliers online or in person are doing is actually inciting violence and stoking fear, not fearmongering. It’s not a maybe that there are planned “mass deportations” – this was a key top campaign promise that Trump made for his presidency. Trump isn’t just some keyboard warrior on the internet – he is in fact that, but he’s also the President of the United States. And the reports are already coming out that it’s happening. There’s a story of an American citizen being arrested at work, and ICE disregarding his military identification document. Supporters have been explicitly told by accepted MAGA thought leaders to get ready to be deputized and help with executing the MAGA agenda raids of variously immigrants, criminals, and democrats – often a confused mishmash in the minds of Qanon adherents, for example. And Donald Trump has already pardoned some of the most fervent Qanon believers who’ve committed crimes believing they were deputized for that movement, and been let off the hook for it.
This reminds me of the story told by Renee Diresta about how she was being harassed for promoting vaccines on Facebook in the 2010s and she was warning about the anti-vax disinformation fervor, and officials at the CDC said that it was “just some people on the internet” – and then in 2021 we saw vaccine distribution sites shut down by angry anti-vaxxers, and anti-vaxxers are a key part of the MAGA movement that got Trump elected.
MedPage Today - Fauci Facepalms Won't Cut It in the Second Trump Administration — Consider what's at stake when leaders in medicine simply watch from the sidelines by David Oxman, MD December 2, 2024 In RFK Jr., Trump nominated a man who has promoted theories that vaccines are linked to autism, that HIV is not the cause of AIDS, that antidepressants can lead to school shootings, and that fluoride may lower the IQ of American children. He also has ties to a film that suggested that COVID wasn't so spontaneous and might really have been a "plandemic" cooked up as a pretext to take away personal liberties. Commenting on RFK Jr.'s nomination, Peter Lurie, MD, MPH, president of the public advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest, pulled no punches: "Nominating an anti-vaxxer like Kennedy to HHS is like putting a flat Earther at the head of NASA."
Now we’re facing an administration that has hired anti-vaxxers for key positions, and have articulated their intentions to outlaw vaccines and cut off funding for needed services with budget memos coming out of the White House that read like they were written by some red pilled incel teen on 8kun. And MAGA operatives have openly talked about sheriffs deputizing anti-vaxxers to go out in squads in raids.
(Archive link) Ivan Raiklin Tells NPR Producer of the "Patriotic & Peaceful" Retribution that's Coming YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN Forbidden.News May 17, 2024 Zoe Chace: Mm-hmm, like via the sheriffs, basically. Ivan Raiklin: What do you think Alvin Bragg's doing right now? Is that a Federal Officer? Exactly my point. Look at the counties in this country that are Red versus Blue. It is overwhelmingly Red. So, Alvin Bragg and the Dems are setting our precedent as we go on offense. Zoe Chace: Okay. Well, thanks Ivan! Ivan Raiklin: It's going to be a doozy. And I love it when it gets spicy. And there are, again, out of the 80,000 of us, we are clamoring to be deputized by sheriffs nationwide, in order to conduct the necessary live stream raids.
It’s appropriate to criticize, for example, if you believe there’s a level of empty threats about what the federal government could actually accomplish on its own. But you should articulate that. Also, an epidemic doesn’t need to kill everyone to be quite bad, as we know from enduring covid.
PayDay Report - FOX News "Embeds" with ICE - Chicago Educators Deny ICE Entry - Trump Orders Fed Employees to Snitch on Covert DEI - Mike Elk Jan 25, 2025 Fox News “Embedded” with ICE on Immigration Raid in Boston As ICE targeted immigrants, Fox News was allowed to embed with immigration raids in the Boston area. The arrests were later broadcast on Fox News. While ICE does not have the resources to target immigrants at the level that many anti-immigrant groups desire, the video of the arrests has spread mass panic in immigrant communities, causing many immigrants to miss work and pay. "I worry that a lot of families will be retreating, will be very cautious about so many different public spaces, to their detriment, and really to all of our detriment," Elizabeth Sweet, the Director of the MIRA Coalition, told WBZ.
And we already know that county sheriffs have been deputizing vigilantes.
AP - A New York county with one of the nation’s largest police forces is deputizing armed residents - By PHILIP MARCELO Updated 3:09 PM EST, June 11, 2024 Nassau County officials posted a notice in March seeking private citizens with gun licenses to serve as provisional special deputy sheriffs who could assist in the “protection of human life and property during an emergency.” Twenty-five have completed training in recent weeks, but locals who have been rallying against the scheme question the need for the unit and have raised concerns about the potential for overpolicing after departments across the country cracked down on protests against the Israel-Hamas war. Democrats, who are the minority in the county legislature, and some community advocates say they worry Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman — a Republican and staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump — could call up the deputies to quell political dissent, a charge he strongly denies. Critics also contend that emergencies require a different type of volunteer.
And sometimes deputizing people in bizarre quantities.
The Takeover and The Rebellion - The Insurgence: Sheriffs—Season 1, Episode 3 - Cloee Cooper Political Research Associates October 22, 2024 CLOEE: This was all coming from a sheriff who’s already criticized in the state for deputizing over 70 people in his county to be a part of his posse. John Sepulvado: Glenn Palmer essentially formed a posse of people who had not been through legal, uh, training, uh, not been through any type of, uh, insurance indemnity. what did he have like 65, 70 volunteer. I mean how ridiculous this idea that we're going to deputize 65 people in a very small county.
And that they’ve already been doing checkpoints in some places.
What is FAIR? The Insurgence: Sheriffs—Season 1, Episode 4 Cloee Cooper Political Research Associates October 24, 2024 CLOEE: This is Stefanía Arteaga, an immigrant rights leader from North Carolina. Stefania: It wasn't until spring break of my senior year of high school. I remember this vividly because I just remember crying and sobbing profusely. Stefania: I got a call from my mom... It was just.. terrible because I had seen checkpoints before, um, but I had never had an understanding until that point of what the checkpoints actually meant. CLOEE: We usually think of check-points associated with militarized zones, or border-crossings. The check-point Stefania was referring to was inside of a town -- sheriff's deputies stopping people from driving from one neighborhood to another, just for looking like an immigrant. Just think, far right sheriffs like the ones we’ve heard about, with the power to arrest and detain people they think are immigrants. Stefania: Sheriff's deputies on this two lane road right outside of a park and rec field just stopping people and asking them for identification and a driver's license... and of course, the immigrant community in East Charlotte, which is heavily Latino, nobody had those documentations.
And we know how checkpoints were used in Rwanda in 1994.
Rwandan genocide From Wikipedia Genocidal killings began the following day. Soldiers, police, and militia quickly executed key Tutsi and moderate Hutu military and political leaders who could have assumed control in the ensuing power vacuum. Checkpoints and barricades were erected to screen all holders of the national ID card of Rwanda, which contained ethnic classifications. This enabled government forces to systematically identify and kill Tutsi. They also recruited and pressured Hutu civilians to arm themselves with machetes, clubs, blunt objects, and other weapons and encouraged them to rape, maim, and kill their Tutsi neighbors and to destroy or steal their property.
The deputized militia people at these checkpoints were convinced, or at least asserted, that they were the ones in danger defending proactively against expected attacks.
Confronting Evil: Genocide in Rwanda - Human Rights Watch Mar 28, 2014 Corinne Dufka: “When I was interviewing these these militia men from this one checkpoint I asked them and I said you know there are a lot of accounts of a lot of killing going on and of massacres going on I didn't use the word genocide but I used the word massacres – of massacres of Tutsi going on now is this true and how can you explain it and so on and so forth and you know one I got the predictable answer of you know of denial as well as explaining that in fact it was the Tutsis who were actually planning to massacre the Hutu.”
And we know how vigilante involved government operations often wind up with people using such operations as cover to settle personal scores.
United States Navy Naval Postgraduate School – Thesis – GENOCIDE IN RWANDA: TOWARDS A THEORETICAL APPROACH by Jill D. Rutaremara March 2000 The research further suggests that although the masses are relatively more ignorant than the elite, and although the elite to some extent coerced the masses into killing, the participation of the masses in the Rwandan genocide cannot be explained by simple ignorance and coercion. Although the masses were motivated by looting and settling personal scores, they participated in genocide so as to grab land, a scarce resource in Rwanda, just as they had done during previous massacres.
People find belonging on the internet.
Longman, T. (2020). Twenty Years after Leave None to Tell the Story, What Do We Now Know about the Genocide of the Tutsi In Rwanda?. Journal of Humanitarian Affairs, 2(2), 40-47. Retrieved Jan 2, 2025, from https://doi.org/10.7227/JHA.042 Two important texts in particular have suggested that most people did not kill out of hatred of the Tutsi but rather for a variety of other reasons. In Killing Neighbors, the late Lee Ann Fujii looked at the ways in which social networks drew individuals into participating in the killing in two local communities, one in Rwanda’s north, the other in the centre of the country. She argues that ethnic difference was not itself the cause of the violence but was a tool used by elites to divide the population and that local-level group dynamics influenced people to participate. She labels those who killed ‘joiners’, because they were motivated not primarily by a desire to kill Tutsi but by a desire to be fully part of the group that was taking part in the killing (Fujii, 2009).
They become part of groups on the internet. And they use organizing on the internet to get people elected.
AnimeRightNews - Peter Thiel’s MAGA3X With Jeff Giesea And Mike Cernovich Revealed In Document Leak Outline to be implemented & reconstituted in future PAC. by Zanting June 24, 2017 Document: “Table of Contents MAGA3X General Strategy Foreword Leadership Intel Division Team Structure: Groups and mission statements: 1st Reddit/LinkedIn Squad 2nd Twitter Squad 3rd MSM Squad 4th Facebook Squad 5th Dissemination Squad 6th Media creation Squad Social Media Division Team Structure: Mission statements: Local Division Mission Statements: Reddit /r/the_donald submitters Plan of Action Major Objectives (Overall) Minor Objectives (Social Media) Minor Objectives (Regional)...”
This isn’t 2002 anymore, maybe saying the internet isn’t real life worked for some back then but many of us didn’t fall for this 20+ years ago.
WPBF 25 - 911 caller: Lake Worth man accused of killing father over vaccination a ‘delusional conspiracy theorist' 2:34 PM EST Feb 6, 2024 The 911 caller, who claimed to have known the McGann family for years, described McGann Jr. as a "delusional conspiracy theorist," angry at his father for getting vaccinated recently.
You can’t just claim what happens on the internet stays on the internet – that it has no effect in the real world today. That’s preposterous. The January 6th Insurrection in 2021 was organized in plain view on the internet. This assertion by people in positions of leadership that people are overreacting, and that in fact the problem is the reaction, is pure handling in the interest of keeping order over actually facilitating people protecting themselves from disinformation and real threats.
“In today’s corporate culture major PR firms promote crisis management as a necessary business expense. Whenever something bad happens to a corporation, often its first move is not to deal with the actual problem, but to manage the negative perception caused by that problem.” — Toxic Sludge is Good for You, documentary, 2002
These people in positions of responsibility of leadership in our society are more concerned about calming the public than protecting the public.
Commentary: Elite Panic vs. the Resilient Populace by James B. Meigs, MAY 2020 For the police, fear of public chaos outweighed, at least temporarily, concern for possible victims. Before dispatching those casually deputized citizens to keep order in the streets, the Anchorage police chief suspended the search for survivors in damaged buildings. “Arguably, the city was protecting its ruins from looters more conscientiously than it was looking for people trapped in them,” Mooallem writes. Disaster researchers call this phenomenon “elite panic.” When authorities believe their own citizens will become dangerous, they begin to focus on controlling the public, rather than on addressing the disaster itself. They clamp down on information, restrict freedom of movement, and devote unnecessary energy to enforcing laws they assume are about to be broken. These strategies don’t just waste resources, one study notes; they also “undermine the public’s capacity for resilient behaviors.” In other words, nervous officials can actively impede the ordinary people trying to help themselves and their neighbors. As in war, the first casualty in disasters is often the truth. One symptom of elite panic is the belief that too much information, or the wrong kind of information, will send citizens reeling.
You can’t just say “it’s just some people on the internet” and tell people not to worry. It absolutely can happen here. To think not is racism. I remember how the news categorized the Rwandan massacres in 1994 — as if genocides and ethnic cleansing haven't happened everywhere, including in the U.S.
A Problem from Hell, 2003, by Samantha Power As was true with previous genocides these US officials were making potent political calculations about what the US public would abide. Officials simultaneously believed the American people would oppose US military intervention in central Africa and feared that the public might support intervention if they realized a genocide was underway. As always they looked to op-ed pages of elite journals, popular protest, and congressional noise to gauge public interest. No group or groups in the United States made Clinton administration decision makers feel or fear that they would pay a political price for doing nothing to save Rwandans. Indeed all the signals told them to steer clear. Only after the genocide would it become possible to identify an American constituency for action. At the height of the war in Bosnia the op-ed pages of America’s newspapers had roared with indignation. During the 3 month genocide in Rwanda they were silent, ignorant, and prone fatalistically to accept the futility of outside intervention.
Today the op-eds in America are normalizing harms and doing puff pieces that seem to have reporters rubbing hands together about how exciting and fun it is to explain to people how the new reality works in Trump’s America. And too many Democratic Party officials stand not as opposition, but as willing playthings of Republicans and business interests. Working as controlled opposition to calm the masses as they are led to who knows what, presumably so there’s no resistance to inconvenience any elites in society. Why are so many people elected to represent people assuming their job is to work to comfort nazi saluting tycoons or literal banks?