The Springfield bomb threats are a natural byproduct of MAGA's moral panic playbook

[Nevilledog]

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-vance-springfield-ohio-haiti-cats-rcna170934

Parents picked up their children early from two elementary schools in Springfield, Ohio on Friday, in response to information received from local police. The closures followed another early closure the day before, Fulton Elementary School, after it was named in a bomb threat inspired by social media rumors about the Haitian immigrants residing in Springfield. It was just one of many torments the city’s residents have faced since they became the unwilling subjects of a racist moral panic. This is not the first time serious threats have spawned out of the online media ecosystem surrounding former President Donald Trump and the broader MAGA movement, and it certainly won’t be the last.

Right-wing social media influencers spent the days before the bomb threats working to legitimize and spread baseless claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were stealing and eating other residents’ pets. Leading conservative media and Republican Party figures echoed the claims verbatim. With relentless efficiency, GOP leaders and online influencers escorted a set of bigoted falsehoods from a dubious Facebook post to the presidential debate stage, where Trump repeated the claims about Springfield to the event’s 67 million viewers on Tuesday.

Less than 48 hours later, Springfield police officers responded to a bomb threat against six of the city’s buildings, including Fulton Elementary. Springfield Mayor Rob Rue said the bomb threat “used hateful language towards immigrants and Haitians in our community.”

These threats were an entirely predictable byproduct of the forced outrage that MAGA movement influencers work overtime to generate. Conservative influencers have consistently found success in peddling moral panics to their audiences. Media-fueled scare campaigns vilifying antifascist activists, critical race theory, LGBTQ education, DEI programs and immigrants have catapulted countless conservative influencers’ careers. Many such moral panic campaigns, like the one that alleged Haitian immigrants were eating cats and dogs, rely on sensationalized, distorted, and sometimes outright falsified information.

*snip*

[Kaleva]

1. Gov. of Ohio says some of the threats are coming from one country overseas

[Nevilledog]

3. Not all of them, and there would be NO threats without them lying about Haitians in Springfield.

[Kaleva]

5. You are correct. I'll edit my post

[Wednesdays]

4. ...threats are coming from one country overseas...

Let me guess. The country's name begins with an "R."

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R