Imagine working 20 hours straight in bad conditions only to field phone calls about how to beat the Jewish Demoncrap space laser
I would hope that anyone who considers Musk as the head of 'government efficiency' looks at what he's done with Xitter and the cybertruck, and votes accordingly.
Competence really matters for disaster response. You can't bluff your way through it. More climate-driven disasters are coming. If we replace the people who take the job seriously with those who view disasters primarily as a vehicle to feed conspiracy theories, count on much more human misery.
"Every accusation is a confession": Trump says Biden does not want to deliver disaster aid to Republicans (these are swing states, right before an election, but never mind). But multiple Trump aides say he was reluctant to allow FEMA aid to go to blue states. www.nytimes.com/2024/10/04/u...
He changed his mind after being shown data that his supporters in the state had been affected, the former officials said. One called his approach “red states vs. blue states.”
There is a basic asymmetry here. Dems would attack missteps by a GOP President failing in disaster response e.g. Hurricane Katrina. But that criticism would be grounded in reality. The GOP has conspiracy theories instead, which is fine if your only job is lying, but not as a basis to govern.
The misinformation is coursing through social media because much of social media has given up on policing lies, and some social media (e.g., Truth Social, X) see a strategic advantage in lying about the disaster. This false post from Elon Musk was viewed 28 million times. No community notes.
Emergency responders now having to spend their time fighting disinformation.
I think part of this is people really really do not understand how long and hard it is to recover from disaster. They expect magical overnight change and that's not possible.
These two posts sum up the issue of misinformation in the age of social media and hyper-partisan politics pretty well. There comes a point when posting false content doesn't even matter, so long as it confirms your worldview and elicits the approval of your side.
Many of the misinformation that FEMA is dealing with here (FEMA only offering $750 to disaster victims, running out of money, FEMA money has gone overseas) comes directly from the people who could be in charge of the organization next year. www.fema.gov/press-releas...
After a disaster, rumors and misunderstandings can spread rapidly through traditional and social media and via word of mouth by friends, neighbors and colleagues. False or misleading information can h...