GROWING OLD UNGRACEFULLY: Antifa and Fires

Wildfire is an inherently
complex biogeochemical process, and there is no singular reason for
the worsening crisis. It’s not just climate change, nor simply the
unfortunate legacy of 20th century forest management, nor only the
continued expansion into the wildland urban interface—it really is
all of these things together, all at once. 

— Daniel Swain, climate
scientist, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, UCLA)

###

Five seconds. That’s how
long it took me to type in “Antifa, fires” and for Google to
return, just on the first page:

• “Wildfires: Antifa? Proud
  Boys? Here’s what fuels misinformation” (Deseret News)
• “What caused Oregon fires?
  Just blame Antifa” (LA Times)
• “Officials baselessly linked
  ‘antifa’ to arson before wildfires” (The Guardian)
• “Joe Rogan falsely blamed
  forest fires in Oregon on ‘left-wing’ activists” (Business
  Insider)
• “False Rumors That Activists
  Set Wildfires Exasperate Officials” (New York Times)
• “As wildfires rage, false
  antifa rumors spur pleas from police” (NBC News)
• “No, antifa supporters
  aren’t setting fires in the West” (Washington Post)
• “Fact check: Antifa and
  Proud Boys are not in custody for starting fires” (Reuters)
• “Claims that ‘Antifa’ or
  far-left activists have been arrested for setting fires…are false”
  (Newswise)
• “Clackamas County Sheriff’s
  deputy placed on leave after sharing Antifa conspiracy theory”
  (KGW8)
• “Fact check: Oregon fires
  were not set by antifa” (USA Today)

For this one, I had to add
“FBI” to my search:

“September 11, 2020. FBI
Portland and local law enforcement agencies have been receiving
reports that extremists are responsible for setting wildfires in
Oregon. With our state and local partners, the FBI has investigated
several such reports and found them to be untrue.”

Here’s another, posted by
the Medford Police on their Facebook page:

WTF? As if climate change,
subsequent drought, ill-conceived USFS “total fire suppression”
management practices, expansion of communities into forested lands,
and strong offshore winds aren’t sufficient reason for the West’s
worst fire season ever? We have to throw far left and far right
extremists into the mix, which—ironically—makes the task of
actually fighting the fires even more challenging. In Medford, for
instance, the Jackson County Sheriff posted on Facebook: “One
increasingly problematic issue related to the disastrous fires in
Jackson County is the spreading of false information. We are
inundated with questions about things that are FAKE stories. One
example is a story circulating that varies about what group is
involved as to setting fires and arrests being made. THIS IS NOT
TRUE!”

Of course, this is all against
a background of our polarized political climate. For instance, here’s
a tweet from Oregon Republican candidate for US Senate Paul Romero:

Fires are a huge issue, which
will only get worse as the climate warms. Just this year and just in
California, over 8,000 fires have burned almost four million acres,
with 26 deaths and nearly 7,000 structures destroyed. The worst
approach we can take is to blame easy targets (arsonists) while
ignoring the very real, painful and long-term solutions to the crisis
(reduce CO2 emissions, allocate funds for forestry management, stop
communities from encroaching into forests…). One thing we know for
sure: the status quo isn’t working.

It takes but a few minutes to
check out rumors. Whether it’s forest fires linked to arsonists;
Covid linked to 5G/Bill Gates/Wuhan laboratory; autism linked to
vaccines; chemtrails; world domination theories: you owe it to
yourself, and you owe it to your community to first check, then, for
all our sakes, don’t spread the bullshit!

*** This article has been archived for your research. The original version from Lost Coast Outpost can be found here ***