Yesterday I put together a post about the negative messages the MSM had made about the Freedom March. In almost complete lockstep they told their audience that both the Freedom March and its message was dangerous and violent and the protesters were nasty anti-vaxxers.
Today those same negative messages are being reinforced with the following articles.
Newsroom: Parliament protest and the threat of unpredictable violence
Tuesday’s rally is the latest step in the ratcheting up of the stakes on the anti-vaccination fringe – a process that risks inciting random acts of violence
Stuff: Wellington protest was no Capitol Hill moment – but the risk of extremist violence exists
There is therefore the risk of some form of small-scale but potentially dangerous political violence by someone radicalised in the current movement.
NZ Herald: Don’t learn the wrong lesson from anti-vax protest (paywalled)
When a few thousand people – I’d say 4000-5000 could summon such passion and bile over, a painless and safe method of avoiding an aggressive and deadly virus, one really has to wonder, “are we okay? Or have we gone completely mad”.
NZ Herald: What did the Beehive protesters actually stand for? (paywalled)
I’m worried about where this is going. The common ground we rely on to function as a pluralistic democracy is shrinking beneath our feet. If actions catch up to the rhetoric – and history tells us it will – we can expect Tuesday’s protest to be the prelude to much worse.
Stuff: Crazed theories growing as our shared reality founders
[…] the kinds of different realities inhabited by some of Tuesday’s protesters: imaginary worlds ruled by satanic elites, shadowy conspiracy theories imported directly from the United States and QAnon, as well as those pushing anti-vaccination misinformation, and the apocalyptic Destiny Church.
ODT Editorial: Another virus spreads insidiously
Newshub: Experts reveal why Tuesday’s protest at Parliament didn’t end in Capitol-style violence
1 News: Maori symbols being used by non-Maori Covid dis-information spreaders
Spinoff: ‘Sharp increase’ in online disinformation since delta outbreak began