Sadly, all the absurd and dangerous “misinformation” about the two recent hurricanes, Helene and Milton, distracts attention away from the fact that our poorest citizens usually suffer the most from natural disasters. Not only do they tend to live in less desirable, more vulnerable locations, quite frequently they don’t have the means to escape (money, transportation, even a place to go). So we should acknowledge that a lot of people are justified in feeling victimized and persecuted by the tragic devastation caused by Helene and Milton. In a country already torn apart by growing inequality and the social and political turmoil it provokes, these events are pushing us to our limits.
Natural disasters create a perfect metaphor for the anger and resentment that’s driven much of the MAGA movement, and a perfect opportunity for the dangerous misinformation that’s permeating our discourse—and our election. Many of the crazy stories now circulating claim the storms were “weather weapons” (courtesy of Alex Jones) created for such purposes as wiping out the population to make way for lithium mining or helping the Democrats by wiping out majority Republican areas. Then, of course, there’s the rumor (courtesy of Donald Trump) that FEMA money is being siphoned off to illegal immigrants. To call misinformation of this sort “toxic” is an understatement. This insidious nonsense can discourage victims from seeking the FEMA help they desperately need and can even result in relief workers being targeted with violence (sending militias to facedown FEMA!). Needless to say, this unproductive distraction isn’t what America needs right now; at a time when we should be pulling together, we’re being torn further apart.
According to a recent post on X, meteorologists are “nothing but a trained subversive liar programmed to spew stupid shit to support the global warming bullshit.” But as one meteorologist replied, “murdering meteorologists won’t stop hurricanes.” Unfortunately, even putting global warming aside, too many people blame the weatherman(person) for the weather. Hmm, this seems awfully similar to the idea that news networks control election results based on who they declare the winner on election night. (Remember how angry Trump’s supporters got when Fox News called Arizona for Biden on election night in 2020?) And nobody, of course, is enjoying this embarrassing exercise in illogic more than climate denialists and lobbyists for the oil and gas industry.
America Should Be Pulling Together, but Instead We’re Being Torn Further Apart.
These people have been living in their own world of bullshit for so long they’ve forgotten that reality exists. According to Michael Caulfield at the U of WA, “the vast majority of misinformation is offered as a service for people to maintain their beliefs in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.” And as Charlie Warzel described it in his excellent article in the Atlantic, “It’s getting harder to describe the extent to which a meaningful percentage of Americans have disassociated from reality.”. . there is “a swath of people who would rather live in an alternative reality built on distrust and grievance than change their fundamental beliefs about the world.” This humble spirit shutters to think what those beliefs include!
All the while, people who thought Florida beach communities were a good place to retire comfortably on a modest income will continue to lose everything they have, and people of modest means who have lived all their lives in small Appalachian towns will see their communities and livelihoods destroyed. What’s true in the midst of this thriving misinformation ecosystem is that economic inequality, and injustice, is making life in America even more unfair. It’s a lot easier to feed people’s grievances with misinformation they want to hear than address the fundamental issues that are the root of the problem.