Read on Twitter
Via @ozjimbob: NSW bushfire inquiry found *no* major fire started by arsonists (a right-wing meme created by News Corp / Ch7, then spread on social)
11 of 11,774 total fires (inc small ones) were lit w/ intention to cause a bushfire. 0.09% (!!!)
#page=54">https://www.dpc.nsw.gov.au/assets/dpc-nsw-gov-au/publications/NSW-Bushfire-Inquiry-1630/Final-Report-of-the-NSW-Bushfire-Inquiry.pdf #page=54">https://www.dpc.nsw.gov.au/assets/dp...
11 of 11,774 total fires (inc small ones) were lit w/ intention to cause a bushfire. 0.09% (!!!)
#page=54">https://www.dpc.nsw.gov.au/assets/dpc-nsw-gov-au/publications/NSW-Bushfire-Inquiry-1630/Final-Report-of-the-NSW-Bushfire-Inquiry.pdf #page=54">https://www.dpc.nsw.gov.au/assets/dp...
The & #39;arsonists starting fires& #39; meme originated as a challenge to the climate narrative from journalists at @7NewsAustralia and @Australian reportage; linked with a low-level denier meme spreading that & #39;eco terrorists& #39; were starting fires as a & #39;false flag& #39; attack on Australia:
Scott Morrison - the man who we& #39;re meant to believe is fantastic at dealing with crisis now - leant heavily into the arson meme too, with his remarks going largely unchallenged: https://twitter.com/7NewsSydney/status/1214746321459957762">https://twitter.com/7NewsSydn...
And paired with the commercial media / political efforts to spread this, social media tools were used to artificially amplify the message -->> https://twitter.com/KetanJ0/status/1213560294305411072">https://twitter.com/KetanJ0/s... - something @Twitter did nothing to fix.
What started as & #39;183 arsonists& #39; eventually somehow became & #39;250 arsonists& #39;, as @PeterDutton_MP insisted on an interview with @PatsKarvelas - just to show you how wildly these evolve and change as people use their imagination and feelings to alter them:
Nine& #39;s @TheTodayShow intentionally referred to the number arrested - rather than charged - to provide an inflated figure and distract from climate related causes: https://twitter.com/TimKofCanberra/status/1214676893623975938">https://twitter.com/TimKofCan...
This meme wasn& #39;t a small deal. It climbed to high places. It was extremely prominent, and it spread amazingly quickly. Anecdotally, I& #39;ve had *so many* people tell me of Christmas / summer holiday dinners where relatives parroted it. It was a huge deal. https://twitter.com/donaldjtrumpjr/status/1214565369697845249?lang=en">https://twitter.com/donaldjtr...
There are going to be climate change disasters in Aus again, and the political, media and social media structures that allowed this new form of denialism to grow and spread *instantly* are all still in place, and arguably much worse than last summer https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/08/australia-climate-disaster-denial-bushfires-online-rightwing-press-politicians">https://www.theguardian.com/commentis...
There are a lot of lives that could be saved if media outlets, social platforms and political parties figured out how to stamp out deadly lies the moment they emerge.
It& #39;s up to them to decide if they want to save lives, I guess.
It& #39;s up to them to decide if they want to save lives, I guess.
