As if the framing and coverage of the #BaltimoreUprising has not been problematic enough, there are people out there purposely trying to make things worse. Enter the internet racists with their #BaltimoreLootCrew. Using false avatars, outdated pictures and awful stereotypes, they are just adding fuel to the fire:
If you look at the #BaltimoreLootCrew hashtag, you’ll see what looks like Baltimore residents—all black—bragging about things they’ve stolen during this week’s civil unrest. But none of these photos are real. Instead, it’s the work of 8chan-affiliated white supremacists, bubbling over the sort of message board fecal matter that would’ve been confined to /b/ in the era before social media. … It’d be easy to brush all this aside as horrible Chan-culture bullshit, but there are people who think this is real and representative. This Medium post rounded up several examples of people who’ve notified law enforcement about these fictional looters, or expressed general dismay.
Because people are the worst.
Team Blackness also discussed the probability that Freddie Gray broke his own spine and the incredibly high bail set for one protestor who smashed a police car window.
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CONGRATULATIONS!
They pulled the same stunt during Hurricane Sandy as #SandyLootCrew. And the media fell for that one too.
Ben Cisco
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
Objection – presumes the media wasn’t in on it (and they sure as hell HAVEN’T earned that).
Paul in KY
White ‘supremacist’ losers have to be the worst of all these ‘my race is better than yours’ scum. Living in a society that was created pretty much for you & you can’t even get by with that big boost & then blame your crappy life on black people.
gratuitous
Yes, people are definitely the worst. Some of them, at least. However, these sophomoric hi-jinks would go largely unnoticed in our society except that our fabulous media outlets can’t do the bone-simple job of fact checking anymore, and they so petrified of being hooted at by the nincompoops, that they’ll rush anything into print or onto the air.
Serving up ready-made junk food like Baltimore Loot Crew is easier than actual reporting, and there’s no penalty for getting the story so gut-wrenchingly wrong, so what’s the diff? “Look! We have scary pictures of scary black people doing scary things! Be scared!”
Ben Cisco
@gratuitous:
No, no, no, no NO.
They are NOT petrified. They are IN LEAGUE.
The supremacist lies serve their masters, so they run with it as well. THEY. ARE. ACCOMPLICES. Full stop.
The Gray Adder
The more I get to know people, the more I love my cats.
chopper
the woman featured in the medium article surely demonstrates how shitty people are. the Twitter back-and-forth over her steadfast refusal to admit getting punked just has me shaking my head.
Frankensteinbeck
@Ben Cisco:
The lies don’t have to serve their ‘masters.’ People like Blitzer are middle-aged-to-elderly rich white men who get their start during the Reagan years. They are Republicans and racists themselves. There’s no need for anyone to order them to slant the news the way they, themselves, want it slanted.