Back during the Bush and Obama years, I remember hearing so many right-wing conspiracies about FEMA camps.
Why didn’t anyone ask “If FEMA has the ability to set up camps and transport large numbers of people, why aren’t they doing that every time there’s a big hurricane or wildfire?”
Because these people are mentally ill and their reality does not jive with actual reality
Agreed, see also
When bad people do good things they are generally seen as sinister, as if they are concealing a horrible action behind a facade of good will. So if you believe the government is fundamentally evil, and you see it trying to do something good (which is the whole purpose of FEMA) then its actions are going to look sinister to you. So stories about FEMA having camps (at their core, these are stories about the government using the facade of aid and assistance to hide something evil) will make sense to you because they are consistent with your sentiments about the what the government is. So too would stories about FEMA using disasters as a pretext for land snatching or stories about FEMA ignoring people in peril because these are all stories about an evil government. To the extent that they are consistent with your sentiments about the government, they are easy to accept as true, even if they contradict each other.
Yeah, this reminds me of a core conclusion in this article I read earlier today: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/10/hurricane-milton-conspiracies-misinformation/680221/?gift=LfMDGClsXPxuFi6NzzlsSmMf2SO62OLofWrLa23Hg1Y&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
Basically all of this isn’t about convincing people of anything new. It’s just information to reaffirm existing beliefs and prevent people from coming to terms with the fact they’ve gone down a rabbit hole of crazy.
Just read a good article today about FEMA response. They said all response starts at the local level. At some level, there might be a FEMA rep involved, but the local or state leaders have to request the help. Even then, FEMA doesn’t run the show. It’s run by the state and local people with FEMA assisting to provide needed resources and guidance. Unfortunately, I can’t remember where I read the article.
IIRC, the camps of those days were after the fact for people who had lost their homes riding out the storms.
I have not once heard of FEMA bussing and housing people who couldn’t afford to evacuate before a hurricane. Has that ever happened?
When I hear of FEMA camps, this is what I think people are talking about. People have lived in these trailers long term while rebuilding damaged areas. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/FEMA_trailer
Me either.
As Xorollo pointed out, they did set up trailer parks for victims who’s houses were destroyed after Katrina and in 2012. They were full of Formaldehyde and people experienced “breathing difficulties, persistent flu-like symptoms, eye irritation, and nosebleeds”.
It seems like you could only apply if your house was damaged. If you were renting and flat on your ass with your work and all your stuff destroyed or worse, SoL I guess.
I forgot about that lol
That and the tunneling under Walmart or some shit
Operation Jade Helm
lol forgot about that one
conspiracies about FEMA
