Sick Right-Wing Trolls Delight in Interfering With Mexico City Rescue Efforts
Let me say this again, in case the subtitle is lost: right-wing trolls are causing human victims of the quake in Mexico City to die.
They are posting the names of liberals and activists as “trapped and needing help,” diverting rescuers from saving children stuck under the rubble of collapsed buildings.
They are urging people to get out in the streets and block emergency earthmoving equipment, by trying to spread rumors via WhatsApp that the heavy equipment is meant to crush and kill poor people.
Hey we could send all the Daca people to help with mexico’s earth quake issues
— Deplorable VETERAN🗽 (@JohnSalsbury3) September 20, 2017
More reason to build a wall. More Mexicans will flee towards USA due to looting & gang activity after quake.
— MD80/90/B717 T-Tails (@90B717) September 19, 2017
Watching footage of Mexico City rescue attempts and aid to those injured,not seen is cockroaches looting in a time of peril,BLM thang only?
— DanNade@pantherfan48 (@panthersfan1948) September 20, 2017
No looting reported in Mexico City. No black people there.
— Howdy Doody (@StatesRights420) September 19, 2017
Rain? Trump’s fault. Hurricane? Earthquake? Trump. Wall not built? Trump. All bull caca. #MAGA #HillaryForPrison
— Brad (@TanksAlotBrad) September 10, 2017
#JenniferLawrence #MAGA IRMA is Nature’s Wrath for Trump’s Victory? Be careful sweetheart, you live where earthquake occur!!!!
— True Patriot (@Trump4USA2) September 10, 2017
The earthquake was payback for Vincete Fox saying Harvey was retribution for Texas voting for Trump.
Too soon?— john crichton (@johncri26122582) September 9, 2017
— De🅱 ➡ Ⓜ🇺🇸G🅰 (@Deb4trump66) September 9, 2017
If Florida is getting a hurricane because they voted for Trump, then Mexico had an earthquake because it’s not paying for the wall.
— Kathy Zhu (@PoliticalKathy) September 8, 2017
And an earthquake is punishment for Vicente Fox making his comments about Trump and our country. pic.twitter.com/aOa1NCoSEN
— Grandad76 (@RealGrandad76) September 9, 2017
They are whipping people into hysteria over the “threat” of looters.
As the devastating earthquake trapped untold hundreds of people and their pets under tons of rubble, some on social media alleged the Mexican government was “sending in heavy machinery to kill poor people,” encouraging fellow trolls and social media users to block ambulances and rescue equipment, as rescue crews encouraged city residents to do the exact opposite—clear the roads to allow ambulances to get through.
As initial news reports and social media users in certain neighborhoods of Mexico City and Puebla warned that some had begun to take advantage of the chaos to steal and loot, and rob pedestrians or vehicles held up in bottleneck traffic, there were the trolls—the same ones who so often glom onto disasters and human rights crises in Mexico to spread misinformation and hatred with zero repercussions. They were encouraging their followers to go out and “let the looting begin.”
“If you see me, say hello … I’m on my way to the looting, sons of bitches,” wrote one Mexican troll, uploading an image of a man in a car, holding a pistol.
“I hope a lot of people die in the #sismo … especially the poor,” wrote one long-time Twitter nuisance, who had one account briefly suspended earlier this week after threatening to rape several female Twitter users in response to the national outrage over the murder of 19-year-old Mara Castilla—a young woman who was abducted, taken to a hotel, and then found dead and wrapped in a sheet last week after using the Cabify ride-share app.
Twitter responded with a slap on the wrist, by freezing that account for seven days. But like most of Mexico’s trolls, adept at the art of sockpuppetry—using multiple accounts for the purpose of deception—it hardly mattered, as he switched to his backup accounts to spread misinformation and lies about the earthquake.
More: thedailybeast.com