Blaming immigrants for the spread of Covid-19 is a lazy but effective tactic that packs a double punch of disinformation, milleridriss writes.
When such propaganda is spread not only on fringe internet platforms, but also by elected officials whom residents trust as the source of their facts and information, it becomes even more dangerous. Such hateful speech can also incite violence. People don’t commit or condone violence against out-groups spontaneously, as Harvard’sproject explains: They must first “be taught to see other people as pests, vermin, aliens, or threats.
Blaming immigrants is a strategic frame that intertwines anti-elite, pro-nationalist and anti-immigrant discourse all at once. Liberal elites and their lenient immigration laws become the real bogeyman, and those laws must be countered with restrictive immigration policies that will protect people here from the dangerous and destructive force of immigration.
But these tactics, which encourage the public to see immigrants as threatening, also lay the groundwork for extremist groups to advocate for violent solutions to address that threat — as we have already seen in far-right terrorist attacks across the country and around the globe. The Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was a clear illustration of the serious threat that propaganda and disinformation pose to our democracy.
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