Fact-checking the virus conspiracy after Hurricane Helen

This story is part of emergency situationa grist series that explores how climate disasters are affecting voting and politics.

Conspiracy theories began to swirl even as flood waters were rising. Hurricane Helen, the worst storm to hit the United States since Katrina in 2005, was designed to specifically target Trump supporters in key battleground states. “Yes, they can control the weather,” says Georgia’s far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Posted in X on Thursday. “It’s ridiculous for someone to lie and say it’s impossible.”

Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist known for claiming the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax, released a video to X claiming the government targeted Helen in North Carolina. why? The plan is to force people out of the area to mine the state’s large reserves of lithium, a key component in the batteries that power electric cars and store renewable energy. The video garnered nearly 1 million views in three days.

Hundreds of keyboard conspiracy theorists took to TikTok, X, Reddit and other social media sites to claim that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is withholding critical supplies to stranded communities in the Southeast. “I just came down from the mountain to deliver supplies,” a person with the username “RastaGuerilla” posted on X on September 30th. “It may sound crazy, but FEMA is directly confiscating donated items, blocking volunteer assistance, kicking churches out of parking lots, etc.” This post has tens of thousands of likes. Similar messages from people who claim to have been in the disaster area have garnered hundreds of thousands of views and reposts.

It’s unclear what percentage of these false claims actually come from people in areas destroyed by Helen, let alone whether they were spewed by humans or bots. Regardless of who wrote it, the plot is as follows. obviously false. FEMA has not confiscated supplies. The Biden administration is not trying to force people off the land they want to mine lithium. And the federal government definitely cannot control the weather. For disaster researchers, the barrage of sharp conspiracy theories is further proof that conspiratorial thinking is becoming something of an epidemic.

“We’ve moved into a space where conspiratorial thinking is mainstream,” said Rachel Goldwasser, who tracks far-right activity and disinformation at the Southern Poverty Law Center. “All those tinfoil hats claiming the government controls the weather now feel justified because Marjorie Taylor Greene said so too.”

Disasters always raise a cloud of conspiracies aimed at questioning the legitimacy of the government. The dark side of society has long typecast FEMA as an evil, all-powerful boogeyman capable of carrying out the most outlandish and heinous acts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, conspiracy theorists claimed: Seizure of medical supplies Also from hospitals and local governments. Similar rumors about FEMA and the Red Cross Confiscation of donations Lahaina was the talk of the internet after the devastating wildfires in Hawaii last year.

But experts told Grist that the storm’s proximity to Election Day may have helped raise concerns about immigration and workplace issues, which Republicans and conservative news outlets have sought to turn into a cultural referendum heading into November. A toxic stew of conspiracies has reportedly emerged that reflects broader debate about inclusivity and other hot-button issues. 5.

One popular theory scattered in online forums is that the government drained funds from FEMA to fund programs for illegal immigrants. “It is treasonous for FEMA to spend more than $1 billion on illegal aliens while leaving Americans stranded and without help,” Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett said, citing the evidence. Said in X without. Another theory is that the agency prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training over disaster preparedness. Immigration and, to a lesser extent, DEI are central to former President Donald Trump’s re-election platform. (The former president appeared on Truth Social on Thursday, slamming the Biden administration’s response as “the worst and most incompetently managed ‘storm’ at the federal level,” before saying, “But border control is even worse!” added)

Samantha Penta, a sociologist and emergency management and homeland security expert at the University at Albany, said: “There are already debates about these issues and there are people who are already very concerned about these issues.” It’s clear,” he said. “I’m not surprised that these concerns have figured into the discussion about the response to Helen.”

Some theories reflect small aspects of the truth. In his video, Jones cited an actual government program from the 1960s called Project Storm Fury as evidence that the government intentionally “seeded” storms. This project, which explored the possibility of weakening hurricanes by seeding them with silver iodide, ended in 1983.

Conspiracy alleging that FEMA is not participating in disaster relief efforts and confiscating supplies also contains a grain of truth based on widespread misconceptions about the role FEMA plays in disaster relief. Many believe that immediately after a disaster, it descends on a site where there are cases of water, pallets of food, and armies of people with shovels and flashlights. However, it is better described as a logistics coordination and check writing organization. “You’ll never see someone in a FEMA jacket putting sandbags on a riverbed,” Penta said. “That’s none of their business.”

One of its primary roles is coordinating relief efforts and distributing supplies with local and state authorities and nonprofit organizations. FEMA typically encourages people to send supplies and go to disaster areas, not because they want to keep aid away from people who need it, but because such supplies and untrained volunteers are in the way. This is because they are only delaying their activities. That’s why states often echo FEMA’s call to do no harm and leave recovery efforts to those who know what they’re doing.

“North Carolina recommends against travel to affected areas,” the North Carolina Business Emergency Operations Center said in an email Thursday. “Our roads have live communications and power cables that provide vital resources to affected communities, and we cannot disrupt them. In some situations, the roads are not even paved.”

The federal Department of Transportation has placed temporary flight restrictions in parts of the Southeast to prevent amateur drone operators and others from interfering with rescue efforts, a move the federal government says will require the help of Good Samaritans. This is further fodder for those who say they are colluding to block support from people who want to do so. “Please do not fly drones near or around Hurricane Helen rescue and recovery efforts,” the agency said in a post to X on Wednesday. “Disruption of emergency response operations impacts search and rescue operations on the ground.”

It is true that in the aftermath of the storm that devastated large swaths of six states, many people, especially those living in remote areas or whose livelihoods were completely cut off by flooding, were left to fend for themselves. is.

Joshua Hensley, an entrepreneur from Asheville, drives across western North Carolina to deliver supplies. “Most of the government involvement we have seen so far has been Osprey And helicopters are flying overhead trying to bring supplies in, trying to evacuate people,” he told Grist Thursday via the Starlink satellite hotspot. “But on the ground, I’ve been all over the place, but it’s almost entirely local.”

In the days before federal aid arrived, Asheville restaurants, breweries and other establishments worked to provide water, medical care and other assistance to residents. “All of our employees and community members volunteer their time and energy,” said Mae Walker, a service worker who lives in the city. “It is far more important than any tangible support from police or city officials other than power restoration.”

In the days following the storm, local pilots used Asheville’s airport as a distribution center, transporting supplies to stranded communities and conducting search and rescue operations. But as the state and federal government’s vast disaster-relief machinery groans into action, their efforts have become more of a hindrance than a help, and airport officials have called for them to be halted so the state can take over those duties. .

Misconceptions that governments are not responding to disasters, and false conspiracy theories that amplify such beliefs, can have dangerous effects. The Southern Policy Law Center has heard credible reports that far-right militias and white supremacist groups are moving into the region to provide support. And if past disasters are any indication, they say they are arousing sympathy for their cause.

“The more people believe that FEMA doesn’t exist or that FEMA spends all their money on things like DEI, the more groups like militias will believe that they’re needed in that area,” Gold said. Wasser said. “They have their own agendas and goals that they are trying to accomplish that take precedence over the needs of the people on the ground who need support.”

In the chaotic hours and days following a disaster, it is easy to see how people might think that the government has abandoned the people of the affected areas. But the rise of conspiracy theories online and their spread by politicians and pundits is obscuring the truth that disaster relief efforts are messy and certainly flawed. “FEMA is an agency built and run by humans,” Penta said. “You’re going to make mistakes, things are going to go wrong, and you’re going to get criticized for it.”

Such criticism is fair and even justified. FEMA has so far Chronic lack of funds Over the decades, the situation will only get worse as climate change disasters become more common, more destructive, and more expensive. Compounding the problem is the growing polarization of American society and the tendency of many people to see only the worst in the government and those who work in it. The confluence of these two trends creates fertile ground for conspiracy theories to flourish, suggesting that the flood of lies will continue to grow long after the floodwaters in the Southeast have receded.