ChristyK
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thread 1/13
I've been watching stories about the BC wildfires on X. In particular, I've been noting that one story by one couple about a backburn around Celista has been republished over and over. It blames the firemen. This is accompanied occasionally by three or four other copy-pasted things...
01:38 PM - Aug 23, 2023
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ChristyK
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thread 2/13
There's also an Instagramer who seems to be posting about police not letting people into evacuated areas. Authorities are speaking calmly to people, but these are posted as though this was a big infringement of people's rights.
01:39 PM - Aug 23, 2023
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ChristyK
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thread 3/13
There's a narrative people are trying to claim that the authorities abandoned them and it is locals who are saving houses with the authorities there only to make it harder for those hard working locals. Meanwhile the authorities say...
01:40 PM - Aug 23, 2023
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ChristyK
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thread 4/13
.... the authorities say their sprinklers for the one bridge into Scotch creek have been stolen not once, not twice, but three times.
01:41 PM - Aug 23, 2023
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ChristyK
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thread 5/13
And people are claiming to be bringing supplies, which the authorities say are unnecessary and just putting more people at risk. The supplies are going to people who have not followed the evacuation order. Authorities calmly explaining why that is not a good idea are being painted as the bad guys.
01:42 PM - Aug 23, 2023
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ChristyK
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thread 6/13
I wish I had the time and energy to go through and analyze the profiles of the people republishing the original story by that one couple. How much is bot amplification? How many are people connected to the area? Many of the accounts seem to be anti-maskers too.
01:42 PM - Aug 23, 2023
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ChristyK
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thread 7/13
Then at the far fringe, there's people like QAnon-mixed up Romana Didilo the self-proclaimed queen of Canada saying that her make-believe army should kill.... it seems she's implying they should kill the firefighters and police officers.
01:44 PM - Aug 23, 2023
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ChristyK
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thread 8/13
I don't know why these stories fascinate me, but they really show the breakdown of trust... when people doubt the firefighters and the officials.... when they are encouraged to doubt the authorities. And it puts people in danger.
01:46 PM - Aug 23, 2023
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ChristyK
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thread 9/13
When the police turn people away, it is partly for fire danger but also to prevent looting, they say. And some of these people claiming to be fighting the fire themselves have admitted that they take supplies from where ever needed to help them fight the fires.
01:47 PM - Aug 23, 2023
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ChristyK
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thread 10/13
The idea that one couple's story about the backburn being bungled becomes the narrative interests me. People sharing it claim "why isn't the media talking about this?" (and I've noticed some rightwing sources have picked it up, citing that couple's story). How can stories rely only on one source?
01:50 PM - Aug 23, 2023
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ChristyK
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thread 11/13
In the first days they were evacuating people from Shuswap area I noticed that if I searched for wildfire and general terms like "wildfire BC" I would see all the posts blaming climate change activists for purposely starting the fires to force people into 15 minute cities.
01:53 PM - Aug 23, 2023
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ChristyK
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thread 12/13
I had started searching for specific little communities to try to get more details and less of that general nonsense. But now even the specific community locations are linked to stories discouraging people from trusting firemen
01:54 PM - Aug 23, 2023
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ChristyK
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thread 13/13
And what happens in the future, I wonder, when people have internalized the idea that governments force fire evacuations for nefarious reasons and that the only way to save one's house is to stay there and fight the fire yourself? That's going to cause big problems.
01:55 PM - Aug 23, 2023
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