this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2024
798 points (99.3% liked)

News

23361 readers
3260 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Storms Helene and Milton have triggered rise of misinformation stoked by Trump and fellow Republicans

Meteorologists tracking the advance of Hurricane Milton have been targeted by a deluge of conspiracy theories that they were controlling the weather, abuse and even death threats, amid what they say is an unprecedented surge in misinformation as two major hurricanes have hit the US.

A series of falsehoods and threats have swirled in the two weeks since Hurricane Helene tore through six states causing several hundred deaths, followed by Milton crashing into Florida on Wednesday.

The extent of the misinformation, which has been stoked by Donald Trump and his followers, has been such that it has stymied the ability to help hurricane-hit communities, according to the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).


🗳️ Register to vote: https://vote.gov/

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 35 points 1 month ago (3 children)

What's going to happen if (when?) a meteorologist actually gets murdered over this?

If I were a meteorologist, I would refuse to go on the air after that. Could you blame any of them for wanting to preserve their own lies? Which will inevitably lead to more people getting killed in weather events.

This is so fucked up.

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 44 points 1 month ago (2 children)

It's anti-vaxx all over again. I knew these people were insane and stupid, but still, "anti-meteorology" wasn't on my bingo card.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 26 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Except worse, because I know some meteorologists from my time working in local TV. Doctors get into medicine much of the time because they want to help people. In my experience, meteorologists get into it because they think the weather is really fucking cool and they love telling people about it. That's a much smaller incentive to keep doing what you do when your life could be in danger. At that point, and again I'm just speaking for me, meteorology would become a hobby.

[–] macarthur_park@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This has already played out exactly as you’re predicting: The Weatherman Who Tried to Bring Climate Science to a Red State

In 2021, Chris Gloninger, a television weatherman in Boston with a passion for climate science, was approached with an intriguing prospect. Would he consider a job as chief meteorologist at a television station in Des Moines?

It was a smaller market, and talk of global warming would be challenging in a politically conservative state. But research from 2020 showed that most Iowans were interested in news about climate change, and the state was a leader in wind energy. Mr. Gloninger’s weather forecasts could be a breakthrough.

He quit after death threats.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 20 points 1 month ago

And that's just threats. If/when one gets murdered, it won't matter if it's a red state or a blue state. They'll all consider their lives at risk. In an occupation that, unless you're a storm chaser, is not one where the person doing it thinks is going to be an issue.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Once they became anti-librarian, anything is possible.

[–] andrewta@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I know you meant lives not lies, but it’s an interesting typo

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Ah fuck, yeah I did.

[–] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

We should just stop any weather predictions for the South.

Let it all be God's surprise to them, and if a surprise hurricane comes up and knocks them on their ass, well, God works in mysterious ways.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Or not because there are plenty of good people in the South who are worried about these threats and worried about climate change and try to get politicians who are also worried about climate change into office so they can do something about it. Those people are in the minority, but they still exist.

Also, plenty of children.

[–] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

As someone who escaped, we should set up funds to let decent people leave for civilized places.

I simply do not consider the south redeemable at this point, we've given them 150 years and it's just been a cancer on the rest of the country.