Beware the grief pimps

Cass Troy

— 2 min read
Beware the grief pimps

As we are in the brief calm before yet another literal storm, there is a tremendous amount of misinformation going around about Hurricane Helene, the FEMA response, claims of land grabs from affected residents. And the influx of disaster tourism from fascist groups trying to push their own agenda has gotten so bad that local activists had to put out a statement about it. We are very likely about to see more of the same throughout Florida. Can you stop people from lying, or fascists from showing up for a photo op? No. But you can refuse to talk to malicious press. You gain nothing from giving an interview to "citizen reporters" with malicious intention, but everything to lose. The best thing you can do is vet anybody you talk to on camera. In any situation! But especially in the face of a disaster (or a protest, or a misinformation campaign). If you aren't familiar with many of the known folks, we have a lookbook of some of the more common problem actors. But since every asshole with a cellphone can call themselves a journalist now, take one second to look them up, and trust your gut before talking to them.

In the last week:

This week:

Early Warning:

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