HOW NOT TO WRITE AN ARTICLE ABOUT HURRICANE DISINFORMATION, AS EXPLAINED BY AN ANGRY GOOSE

There's a popular internet meme that features a talking goose chasing someone who's (presumably) wearing goosedown outerwear:

This meme is often repurposed to criticize people who choose not to acknowledge something obvious while making their arguments. Here it's used to chide anyone who thinks it's a gotcha to say that Kamala Harris, the daughter of a Black man from the former slave colony of Jamaica, is descended from a slave owner:

I thought of this meme while reading a New York Times story about hurricane disinformation. Several times, I wanted the goose to ask the authors and editors of the story some obvious questions. I've generated these questions using Imgflip's Goose Chase Meme Generator.

The story begins:

Wildly improbable conspiracy theories about Hurricanes Helene and Milton have spread largely unchecked on social media. The storms were engineered to clear the way for lithium mining. They were sent to help the Democrats in next month’s election. They were formed by weather-controlling lasers.

Conspiracy theories "have spread"?

... The falsehoods, which have been circulating on X, TikTok, YouTube and other platforms, can resemble the conspiracy theories that plague modern American politics. Prominent figures are pushing them, citing unrelated, misleading or outdated evidence.

If you click the links, you see that the "prominent figures" include Donald Trump and Elon Musk. But many readers won't click the links. And the 80-year-olds in my neighborhood who still get their news from the print Times won't know who the prominent figures are.

... On TikTok, millions of users were exposed to conspiracy theories about the storms, according to research from the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters for America.

... false narratives spread in ad-supported YouTube videos with tens of thousands of views and in X posts with millions of views, voiced by public figures including a Christian nationalist podcaster, a former Trump administration official and a Republican congresswoman.

You can find the names if you go to the Media Matters link:

Christian nationalist podcaster Lance Wallnau questioned, “Is the government trying to learn how to manipulate weather” as a way to “stop Trump ... from being elected.” Wallnau also suggested Milton was created by the government in a separate post, writing: “In light of our discussions about the question ‘can the government control or manipulate weather?’ If storms are not caused by nature, why is Florida the usual target? To what extent can weather really be manipulated? Why does the State Dept not use this against Russia?” [Twitter/X, 10/6/24, 10/7/24]

Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn shared a video claiming that “Hurricane Helene was an ATTACK caused by Weather Manipulation,” and wrote, “Another ‘conspiracy theory’ about to be exposed for the truth behind weather manipulation?” [Twitter/X, 10/7/24] ...

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) blamed Hurricane Helene on “lasers controlling the weather,” a conspiracy theory she has repeatedly espoused. Greene wrote on X, “Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.” Greene followed up with another post that said, “Lasers.. CBS, 9 years ago, talked about lasers controlling the weather.” Greene also blamed a deadly fire in 2018 on space lasers. [Twitter/X, 10/3/24, 10/5/24; The Daily Beast, 3/6/24; Media Matters, 1/28/21]

Wallnau, as you may recall, previously said that Kamala Harris practices "witchcraft." Last month, J.D. Vance made a campaign appearance at a rally sponsored by Wallnau. The Times reported on this at the time, so it would have been nice to see it mentioned in this story.

(The Media Matters piece also names several other disinformationists who are spreading hurricane lies, including former CBS newswoman Lara Logan and former Bill Clinton accuser Juanita Broaddrick.)

Only in the twentieth and final paragraph of the Times story do we see a disinformation purveyor named:

Mr. Trump ... has made several false claims about disaster-relief funds and Democrats’ support for hurricane recovery efforts. On Wednesday, President Biden accused his predecessor of undermining confidence in rescue and rebuilding work, saying he contributed to the “reckless, irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies.”

Why not name and shame these people, the way former Timesman Charlie Warzel does in this Atlantic piece?

... Alex Jones ... claimed that Hurricanes Milton and Helene were “weather weapons” unleashed on the East Coast by the U.S. government....

Some of the lies and obfuscation are politically motivated, such as the claim that FEMA is offering only $750 in total to hurricane victims who have lost their home. (In reality, FEMA offers $750 as immediate “Serious Needs Assistance” to help people get basic supplies such as food and water.) Donald Trump, J. D. Vance, and Fox News have all repeated that lie. Trump also posted (and later deleted) on Truth Social that FEMA money was given to undocumented migrants, which is untrue. Elon Musk, who owns X, claimed—without evidence—that FEMA was “actively blocking shipments and seizing goods and services locally and locking them away to state they are their own. It’s very real and scary how much they have taken control to stop people helping.” That post has been viewed more than 40 million times. Other influencers, such as the Trump sycophant Laura Loomer, have urged their followers to disrupt the disaster agency’s efforts to help hurricane victims. “Do not comply with FEMA,” she posted on X. “This is a matter of survival.”

That's the way you do it. It's not difficult.