There was never a plan for anti-fascists to start a civil war despite claims by far right conspiracy personalities such as Alex Jones. It was a hoax from the start. However that certainly didn't stop those same far right personalities and groups/individuals who accepted the hoax as fact from patting themselves on the back for defeating the "antifa" menace:
Some of the misinformation is recycled from previous misinformation campaigns, including the Las Vegas massacre:
congrats to those who bought $2000 in tiger repellant & havent been attacked by one tiger today. we beat those striped motherfuckers pic.twitter.com/Dy0ys5TtR2— TOHMKSGVG PIAKLES (@Tormny_Pickeals) November 4, 2017
sooo antifa cucked pretty spectacularly on what was billed as the Bolshevik Revolution 2.0, eh? https://t.co/4zezkhOquV— ☩ Faith J Goldy 🇨🇦 (@FaithGoldy) November 5, 2017
Today though some of the same far right conspiracy personalities are at work continuing to stoke fears of a non-existent antifa uprising.
Earlier in the day, a man walked into a Texas Baptist church and started shooting. As of this moment, 26 members of the Sutherland Spring First Baptist church are dead as is the shooter. We don't know much about the shooter at this point. What we do know is that he was a 26 year old white male who served for a time in the Air Force before being discharged for bad conduct. He was married and may have worked and/or volunteered briefly at a church (Sunday school perhaps?).
Update: A little more detail on why the shooter had been discharged from the Air Force:
At this point no one seems to know the individual's motive, however that hasn't stopped the rampant speculation and seemingly definitive claims from the far right that the shooter was (1) a Muslim, (2) a "member" of antifa, (3) a member of the Democratic Party, (4) on the payroll of George Soros, or (5) any combination of the first four:Update: A little more detail on why the shooter had been discharged from the Air Force:
Texas gunman was court-martialed, confined 12 months and kicked out of USAF for assaulting his wife and their child, our DC bureau reports.— Matt Pearce 🦅 (@mattdpearce) November 6, 2017
Antifa killer attacks Texas church killing 26 fulfilling the groups dream for violent revolutionary action! https://t.co/wBfO4A6tYX— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) November 6, 2017
The Texas shooter was NOT antifa or a democrat. Here are all the debunks we have so far: https://t.co/UslN1K23n5 pic.twitter.com/z9ATTGbp2h— Jane Lytvynenko (@JaneLytv) November 6, 2017
A day after smearing #Antifa for a civil war that never happened, the far-right tries again: https://t.co/CbCIuNMT3b #SutherlandSprings— Michael E. Hayden (@MichaelEHayden) November 6, 2017
Buzzfeed has been doing a very good job of cataloging and debunking the misinformation rapidly being shared on social media:
.@TalalNAnsari is compiling a fake news list on Buzzfeed here: https://t.co/N7kMAKV6HY— M.P. (@OmanReagan) November 6, 2017
So, people are trying to link Sutherland Spring's shooter Devin Patrick Kelley to antifa. Because of course they are.— Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) November 6, 2017
<short thread>
1/ pic.twitter.com/746HsdCodc
Look up "Samir al-Hajeed".— LetsNotLeave (@localnotail) November 6, 2017
See the end of this Wapo piece: https://t.co/DGCvKGXtWU#FakeNews#GunControl pic.twitter.com/pSX8FUEyku
Unfortunately, the lies take on a life of their own and seem to be almost impossible to stop.
The misinformation campaign has also worked on many of the Canadian groups and individuals ARC keeps an eye on. Here are a few representative examples.
La Meute:
Tuerie au Texas. La Meute montre son vrai visage. Ils espèrent que c'est un musulman et ce membre de la Garde est laïc? #onestpasracistes pic.twitter.com/txKKLaBfTW— Le Troupeau (@LetroupeauQC) November 5, 2017
Tuerie au Texas. Les membres de #LaMeute, sans aucune source qui corrobore cela, disent que c'est l'oeuvre d'un musulman. #onestpasracistes pic.twitter.com/2MoirHm9Ue— Le Troupeau (@LetroupeauQC) November 5, 2017
Tuerie au Texas Même quand d'autres membres de la Meute mettent en doute que ce soit un musulman on persiste à dire que si #onestpasracistes pic.twitter.com/oPrHoeobiZ— Le Troupeau (@LetroupeauQC) November 5, 2017
Tuerie au Texas. Pendant que La Meute parle de l'islam, Le profil du tueur ressemble plus à un membre de l'extrême droite #onestpasracistes pic.twitter.com/uJD2yxydH1— Le Troupeau (@LetroupeauQC) November 5, 2017
Tuerie au Texas. Après avoir dit que c'était l'acte de musulmans maintenant ils se tournent vers d'autres sources douteuses #onestparacistes pic.twitter.com/6ujsNzNZbP— Le Troupeau (@LetroupeauQC) November 6, 2017
Sur les 5 personnes qui ont aimé la publication qui dit que le suspect est un Antifa, on a un membre du conseil et trois gardes.— Le Troupeau (@LetroupeauQC) November 6, 2017
The III% militia in Alberta:Un membre du conseil et trois gardes qui ne font rien pour empêcher la désinformation. Ce qui est apparement une de leurs tâches pic.twitter.com/TrSb5XWgb9— Le Troupeau (@LetroupeauQC) November 6, 2017
WCAI:
Miscellaneous:
Members of Ezra Levant's "The Rebel":
And former Rebel Media correspondants:
Fabricated whole cloth, possibly in order to incite violence. https://t.co/U5Oxg5NAPs— Jack Smith IV (@JackSmithIV) November 5, 2017
And Georges Hallak who doesn't write about the misinformation itself, but does, along with many of his readers, push for arming more people in this country:
While it is likely we'll learn more about the motives of the shooter as the investigation progresses, I am equally sure that if that motive doesn't fit the narrative of the far right, it will be dismissed out of hand.
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