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It was heartbreaking enough that we had to deal with rivers unleashing death and destruction in our beloved Western North Carolina. Compounding that was the river of harmful misinformation driven by political miscreants, evildoers, and well-intentioned but clueless people.

When a disaster strikes, victims need to know that their local, state and federal governments will help, because they are.

For days afterward, however, there was a torrent of lies flowing both from the highest political levels in the country as well as from the bowels of evil swimming on the internet. The big lie was that FEMA, our federal government’s primary support for needy disaster victims, wasn’t coming, didn’t have any money because it was being spent on immigrants and other such conspiracy drivel, or that it was “confiscating” donations.

The big lie quickly spread via the internet in Polk, Rutherford and Buncombe counties, coming mostly via Elon Musk’s X but also other social media. Falsehoods ranged from a planned government seizure of the entire town of Chimney Rock to FEMA siphoning relief money to illegal immigrants and mysterious events surrounding a non-existent lithium mine. So pervasive were the spreading lies that some North Carolina Republican legislators begged their colleagues to stop it.

State Sen. Kevin Cobin, a Republican from Macon County in WNC, wrote, “Friends, can I ask a small favor? Will you all help STOP this conspiracy theory junk that is floating all over Facebook and the internet about the floods in WNC?”

According to the Washington Post, Mark Robinson, the state’s lieutenant governor and a candidate for governor, repeatedly falsely alleged that there had been no state government response to Helene.

But equally troubling to me was that some of my friends allowed themselves to be sucked into the vortex of conspiracy theories about FEMA.

One drove up from Florida with a pickup truck bulging at the seams with water, food, diapers, medical supplies and even Fruit Loops, calling and texting all along the way that he was bringing supplies but that FEMA had already stopped one of his buddies and “confiscated” his goods. When he arrived on our property, where Helene had already brought down trees on our buildings and left us without power, he said he was looking for a preacher he heard about who was in the area and accepting donations.

What’s the preacher’s name? He couldn’t remember, but he knew he didn’t want to let his precious cargo fall into the hands of FEMA. When he asked where he should take it, I told him the best place to go was the Tryon International Equestrian Center in Mill Spring. I gave him the address and said it was less than a 10-minute drive and that when he got there, guess what he would find–FEMA, helping people.

When he left our area to go back to Florida, he texted to say, “You were right.”

Another local friend kept sharing on Facebook–that vein in America that confiscates common sense and critical thinking–a video of a Florida “friend” saying FEMA was “confiscating” donations that he was attempting to bring to us in his convoy of helicopters. The video was mostly about what a swashbuckling savior he was.

I sent the swashbuckler a message requesting an interview about his FEMA revelations. No response. I repeated the request later. No response. I asked my friend to let him know that I wanted to interview him. She did. Still no response from the Florida whirly boy.

Apparently he wasn’t interested in talking to someone who might expose his lies. He was much more comfortable posting them on social media, where gullibility is a prerequisite for earning those blue ribbon badges.

 

Larry McDermott is a local retired farmer/journalist. Reach him at hardscrabblehollow@gmail.com