Baranyai: Too many adding fuel to fires of mistrust

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You’re either part of the solution, or you’re part of the problem, it’s often said. The phrase was coined by Eldridge Cleaver in 1968, campaigning as presidential candidate for the Peace and Freedom party. The activist was speaking in San Francisco, not far from the city where he grew up, a city now purged by wildfire.

These words are particularly resonant at this moment, amid wildly diverging responses to the firestorms raging around Los Angeles.

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Under ordinary circumstances, a natural disaster is a unifying event. People pull together in the face of adversity. It bears remembering, however, these are not ordinary circumstances. With ruthless efficiency, the wildfires have cast their light on who is solving problems, and who is creating them.

The solution camp, naturally, is aglow with heroism. Firefighters, including teams from Canada and Mexico, are battling the flames alongside nearly 1,000 inmates from state prisons, and the U.S. National Guard. Search and rescue teams (including volunteers) have helped people and animals evacuate safely. Ordinary civilians – some whose homes were destroyed – have organized supplies for people displaced by the fires. Others are working to communicate accurate, up-to-date information. Donations are pouring in. All these folks are part of the solution.

Then there’s the other camp, a layered confection of misinformation, meddling and opportunism. Near the bottom, absorbing the goop trickling down, are the hapless conspiracy theorists decrying “convenient” water shortages and sowing distrust in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Their gullibility is more easily forgiven than the cunning of looters who impersonate firefighters.

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Somewhere folded into this self-indulgent heap is the drone enthusiast whose quest for aerial disaster footage pierced the wing of a Canadian CL-415 “super scooper,” taking the vital water bomber out of circulation for five days.

All of these folks are part of the problem, yet their roles are dwarfed by the harm flowing from the privileged upper tiers. One of them, in fact, is the wealthiest man in the world.

Elon Musk has been grinding the same old dull axe, placing unfounded blame on LA’s mayor and fire chief for prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), or “DIE,” as he seems to think it’s funny to joke. Incredibly, his attacks on minority women fueling wildfires with “wokeness” somehow have become serious talking points among Republican hardliners and right-wing media.

The current GOP is disappointingly overrun with political opportunists who see leverage in human suffering. Many seem to think federal disaster relief is a tool for exacting concessions from Democratic governors. They’re taking their cues from their indecorous leader, who has unhelpfully attacked California Gov. Gavin Newsom throughout the crisis.

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The president-elect has contributed to wildfire efforts with his usual “fire hose of lies.” His well-documented fabrications are deflections from awkwardly timed confirmation hearings for his nominee to lead the Energy Department, a fracking executive who rejects the scientific consensus that climate change causes more frequent and severe wildfires.

Eager for his slice of the cake, Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg also identified himself as part of the problem with his sycophantic plan to replace fact-checking on Facebook with X-style “community notes.”

The meme factory did not disappoint. “The spark from Zuckerberg’s electric penis pump might be responsible for the LA fires,” reads a typical post, adding pointedly: “Without fact checking, there’s really no way to know.”

Fire expert and author John Vaillant has been countering misinformation with clear, factual explanations of drought, urban development and the Santa Ana winds, which he likened to a blowtorch. “Fires generate fear and suspicion, exactly when we need trust,” he noted, choosing to be part of the solution.

write.robin@baranyai.ca

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