Man accused of making threat says he believed social media reports of FEMA refusing to help

[TomCADem]

This shows once again why the complaints about media (not including right wing channels like Fox or News Max) are outdated in blaming the fact that the race is still close and why Trump can lie with impunity with little impact to his poll numbers. There is no shortage of media stories calling out Trump for his lies. Unfortunately, a large segment of the population get their news and information from social media, rather than traditional journalistic sources. These stories are sensationalistic and are designed to trend on social media, and thus are likely to be frequently recommended and ranked.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/man-accused-making-threat-says-183559610.html

William Parsons, the man accused of making the threats in North Carolina, said he believed social media reports that FEMA was refusing to help people, but that he realized that wasn't the case when he arrived in hard-hit Lake Lure, a small community about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of Asheville.

During a phone interview with WGHP-TV, the 44-year-old Parsons read aloud a social media post he made that said “We the people” were looking for volunteers on Saturday to “overtake the FEMA site in Lake Lure and send the products up the mountains.”

Parsons, of Bostic, explained that he believed FEMA was withholding supplies and that his post was a call for action, not violence.

“So we were going to go up there and forcefully remove that fence,” he said, but he found a different situation than he expected in Lake Lure. He said he wound up volunteering that day in the relief effort, but law enforcement officers cast doubt on that claim Wednesday.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

1. Maybe he should do a public service announcement about this

And others as well. It would be akin to public service announcements warning of the dangers of smoking. Find a way to verify a social media post before taking action.

[Buns_of_Fire]

2. So, in the brave new world of social media, "I'm a weak-minded dumbass"

is going to be a defense strategy. Sure, why not. After all, appealing to weak-minded dumbasses is the whole foundation of Fatfuk's re-election strategy.