New talking point I've been hearing: BLM is coming to your neighborhood!!!

[Initech]

Where is this shit coming from? I'm guessing most likely Fox but I could be wrong, and I've heard a few people say this in the last two weeks.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. BLM is already in my neighborhood, and that's fine with me.

[5X]

2. I'll put out the welcome mat. n/t

[TeamPooka]

3. I hope they're bringing a taco truck

[DBoon]

4. Shall I fix them cocktails and hors d'oeuvres?

How many should I expect?

I would like to be a gracious host for these esteemed guests

[Whiskeytide]

19. Soup. I hear they like soup. n/t

[Initech]

28. Canned tuna too. I hear that makes a good projectile.

A guy on TV said that once.

[stillcool]

5. Lots of BLM in my neighborhood..

but we could always be better represented.

[PA Democrat]

6. People should worry instead about the maskless morons walking around their grocery stores.

[Initech]

27. Yeah we had an anti-mask rally in my city. It went about as well as expected.

Needless to say that made me want to move even more, but these idiots are everywhere.

[Thomas Hurt]

7. Rather have them in my neighborhood than the white supremacists and other RWNJs.

[SoCalNative]

8. These rumors were being spread

back when the first round of protests started

[cilla4progress]

9. Sure hope so!

Got my BLM sign out to welcome them!

[BannonsLiver]

10. Pfft they've been saying that since July

Not new at all.

[LakeArenal]

11. But where are the Taco Trucks on every corner

They never keep their promises. Damn.

[maxsolomon]

12. Where are you hearing this?

I mean, yes, BLM has sponsored marches through neighborhoods, sometimes to politicians' or police chiefs' homes, and yes, residents have threatened the marchers with pistols and long guns, but what is the problem?

Do Caucasoids think that BLM is going to ransack their homes, rape the women and pets, and burn everything to ash?

Yes. Yes they do.

[Initech]

13. I've heard a few of my neighbors say this when I'm out walking my dog.

And I am just wondering where this level of paranoia is coming from, as I said in the OP I've assumed it's Fox but I could be wrong.

And the other day I heard a conversation between two neighbors that ended with "Well they had better not come here because everyone has guns.". Followed by "thank god for Trump.".

[maxsolomon]

15. Did you read about the FORTY ONE towns that thought Antifa was coming?

The most egregious example being the N. Olympic Peninsula, where they dropped trees across a forest service road to trap a Spokane family they thought were Antifa.

Their social media rumor mill exposes white Americans as gullible fools. Not just Fox. Email chains, Nextdoor, text alerts. That's where they're hearing it, and you're not in those networks.

[Initech]

17. Nope, and that's one of the reasons i quit Nextdoor

Even though the one for my neighborhood explicitly states that it's a non political forum, people use it to post their insane paranoid rantings anyways.

[maxsolomon]

25. LOL, I quit Nextdoor after a week.

It was making me hate my neighborhood, which voted 80% for HRC.

[Initech]

31. Sometimes I wonder if it's people from outside the neighborhoods posting that shit.

Of course the only way you could tell that was with a IP tracker but then unless you're a moderator there's no way to obtain that information.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

14. I'm BLM in my neighborhood. It's me. I'm BLM.

[H2O Man]

16. Hopefully!

Recommended.

I'll be going to one BLM rally tomorrow, and another on Monday evening.

[Wounded Bear]

18. Better neighbors than Proud Boys or Boogaloo Boiz...

[Squinch]

30. Right. I'd rather have BLM than Proud Boy or Boogaloo thugs.

[eleny]

20. BLM and taco trucks - we have room for everybody and everybody matters

..... .....

[JHB]

21. Basically, from the same place that said the same thing in 2008...

...about the New Black Panther Party. WooooOOOOoooo! Black people comin' to gitcha! WoooOOOoooo!

Where is this shit coming from? Where shit always comes from. And distributed by the usual retailers: FOX, talk radio, paranoid RW websites, homegrown trolls, Russian trolls, Facebook, Twitter, whatever place they left Twitter for, OANN, email forward chains, etc., etc., etc.

[gratuitous]

22. It's called fear mongering

People who are scared don't think critically, and are more susceptible to authoritarian dictates. When you're fearful and uncertain, it's easier for someone who appears strong to appeal to you. "BLM is coming to your neighborhood!" What does that even mean? Nothing, really. But if it makes people fearful and uncertain, mission accomplished, baby!

My preferred method when someone (if I can identify who it is, that is) is to ask the question in the first paragraph: What does that mean? Force a conversation with the monger, and get his targets out of their fear and into a mode more conducive to critical thinking.

[jpljr77]

23. Small kernels of truth blown up into a racist souffle. In the DC area, shortly after George Floyd's

murder, flyers began popping up on electrical posts and stop signs in affluent, mostly white residential areas attempting to raise awareness of the persistent issues faced in black communities, culminating in Floyd's murder. I saw these flyers firsthand and they were not threatening. The "worst" one I saw carried "White silence = violence" messaging, but most simply honored Floyd. In Bethesda (a rich, close-in suburb of DC), a man actually assaulted some kids who were posting them on a popular bike trail (https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/police-have-strong-suspect-in-assault-by-cyclist-over-racial-justice-flyers/2324220/).

So some people were clearly upset by being spoken to by "undesirables." I think this has blown up into, "Hey, those flyers were just casing the neighborhoods....they're coming back with rocks" thinking. People with wealth, especially those born into it, loathe when others point out their privilege. Throw in right-wing media getting wind of this stuff, which I'm sure happened all over the country, and you got yourself a nice little panicked talking point weeks before the election.

[Whiskeytide]

24. Maybe something like this?

Antifa, not BLM, but still a possibility.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

26. Please tell BLM the coffee is fresh and hot, and we have cakes and cookies.

Usually, the core origins for this and thousands of other RW conspiracy talking points are injected into social media by agents of Russia's propaganda machine, and it then gets amplified by them and thousands of Republican wingnuts.

I suspect there's also some American RW sewage tanks that create this stuff as well, but they're not as smart as the Russians on covering their tracks or for following up on thorough propagation of the dogma.

Russia also plays both sides on an issue in order to maximize the possibility of causing chaos. For example:

On a left-leaning site, you might see: "Peaceful BLM rally and vigil tonight in Jonesville at 7pm at 1st and Market. Bring signs, candles and bottled water."

However, on a number of right-wing sites we might find: "Caravan of outside BLM rioters rumored to arrive at 1st and Market in Jonesville at around 7pm, with objective of destroying local businesses. Some are thought to be armed and often deal in drugs."

It's easy to see how that might play out.

[Squinch]

29. Antifa was invading Scarsdale a while back. It was ALL over social media. But it turns out they

didn't. Go figure.

[fleur-de-lisa]

32. I have Black neighbors who are BLM supporters, as am I,

so I'm totally cool with that.

[Initech]

33. I'm more concerned about the Trump humpers with guns that would shoot on sight...

than I am about BLM. Seriously, fuck those people.

[Gothmog]

34. There are four or five Black Lives Matter signs in my neighborhood