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'It just exploded': Springfield woman claims she never meant to spark false rumors about Haitians

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/-just-exploded-springfield-woman-says-never-meant-spark-rumors-haitian-rcna171099

The woman behind an early Facebook post that helped spark baseless rumors about Haitians eating pets told NBC News that she feels for the immigrant community.

'It just exploded': Springfield woman claims she never meant to spark false rumors about Haitians

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio —The woman behind an early Facebook post spreading a harmful and baseless claim about Haitian immigrants eating local pets that helped thrust a small Ohio city into the national spotlight says she had no firsthand knowledge of any such incident and is now filled with regret and fear as a result of the ensuing fallout.

“It just exploded into something I didn’t mean to happen,” Erika Lee, a Springfield resident, told NBC News on Friday.

Lee recently posted on Facebook about a neighbor’s cat that went missing, adding that the neighbor told Lee she thought the cat was the victim of an attack by her Haitian neighbors.

58 comments

norimee

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"I just wanted to be hateful and racist in private with my 500 Facebook friends. I didn't want others to know that"

Its the same as with this woman who sparkt the riots in the UK recently, by spreading false information she had from a russian bot.

Actions have consequences. Even Facebook posts.

Crazyslinkz

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Literally had this talk with my son. "You are responsible for your own actions"

ColeSloth

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What exactly was it she posted? Like a direct quote instead of another summary, because all I've ever really heard about it was that she heard some Haitians from the friends neighbors took and ate their friends cat? Or something like that. I know some regions in Asia will eats cats and dogs. No idea if it's even a thing in Haiti.

norimee

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I know some regions in Asia will eats cats and dogs.

Ah yes. And Americans are all obese and only eat fast food.
Are we done with the stereotypes now?

To make it clear: NOBODY IS EATING ANYBODIES PETS.

Not in Haiti and not in Asia.

AA5B

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Wait, are you telling me I’m not obese? It’s just a stereotype? Whew! Waffle House, here I come!

ColeSloth

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Yeah, it's a straight up fact that cats and dogs are eaten in parts of Asia. That isn't a stereotype at all. It's well known and very documented.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-39577557.amp

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/what-countries-eat-cats

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_meat

https://www.fourpawsusa.org/our-stories/press-releases/ten-million-dogs-and-cats-are-slaughtered-for-their-meat-in-southeast-asia-yearly

https://worldanimalfoundation.org/advocate/what-countries-eat-dogs-and-cats/

https://www.thedailymeal.com/9-countries-eat-cats-and-dogs/11414/

ipkpjersi

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That's not what they are discussing, though.

People aren't eating PETS, as in, animals who have an owner that takes care of them. That's the part you don't understand.

ColeSloth

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Read what I linked. People go around and gather what they can find and catch. Some are very likely to be pets, since they'd be easiest to catch.

Bobmighty

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Can't counter the point they actually made huh? Yeah, that's pretty typical.

ColeSloth

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Which point? Everything was countered in the links provided.

MyEdgyAlt

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Source that they’re pets and not cattle? My farmer friend had a pet cow; they didn’t eat that cow. They ate other cows.

ColeSloth

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If you read the links I posted, you would see that some of them likely are pets. But go ahead and keep your head buried in the sand. A lot of people ignore or deny things just because they don't like them.

BestBouclettes

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Oh no, my actions online have real life consequences... Who would have thought?

Aurenkin

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Yeah, I agree she is at fault for spreading harmful and fucking racist misinformation online. At the same time though it must be wild to have a president candidate pick it up and run with it. It's a shame it took this kind of experience to make her see the potential harm of her actions.

ptz

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"At the same time though it must be wild to have a president candidate pick it up and run with it."

Which is why I worry we may see more of this. Attention-seeking hateful people realizing they can get the ultimate retweets.

Aurenkin

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You're right and I really wish you weren't.

ptz

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Me too.

FuglyDuck

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I wonder if anyone listens to me....

okay. lets give this a try.

Trump is an insurrectionist, a rapist, a traitor. He's sold national secrets. He cheats at golf, and cheats on his wife. He's a pedophile. He's a mass murderer (according to christian doctrine,). He's a liar, an oathbreaker.

there's only one solution

Treczoks

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I wonder if people who suffered damage from her words could drag her in court for that.

kent_eh

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Either she's an idiot who doesn't understand why it's important to think before you speak, or she's a racist who is trying to weasel out of a shitstorm of her own making.

Brickhead92

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Well it's not fair that she should have to suffer consequences for her own actions.

vala

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I wonder what she "meant to happen" then?

Brickhead92

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All she wanted was a simple lynching of some "undesirables" by other people and no repercussions for herself.

Is that too much to ask?

person420

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They're not hurting the people they need to be hurting.

x00za

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So did she get charged?

piecat

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With

WhoPutDisHere

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Fucking love this comment. If only we could charge people for being ignorant, or willfully dumb, or just racist. Amazing how folks wanna throw their individual right to free speech away instead of holding "news" corporations accountable. One is much easier to do and has actual precedent, the other being a collapse of our democracy.

x00za

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Isn't racism and hate speech a crime in the USA?

In many countries you can get a fine or even jail time for blatant racism and hate speech like this.

WhoPutDisHere

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From my understanding, and please, someone correct me:

Hate speech has to be tied to a crime. If you knock someone's mailbox over it's destruction of property, if you do it while yelling a racist phrase at the person then it may be considered a hate crime which depending on the state can carry additional, often heavier punishment. Racism isn't illegal, just bad taste.

As far as American free speech is concerned, outside of inciting violence or injury (rallys that turn violent, yelling fire in a movie theater) you can pretty much say whatever the fuck you want... Unless it's towards a corporation or rich person who can sue you into the floor for years debating your use of "satire, irony, fantasy, parody" if they kinda choose to. Legal system is beyond fucked, and with all the deep fake shit coming and going it's most likely give more power to these kinda cases. Also, it feels like there's a rise both legally and socially for thought crimes. A whole new bag of fun.

Edit: Obviously, threatening someone with violence is indeed illegal. Can't tell folks you're going to kill them.

x00za

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Free speech can exist perfectly fine with rules against this kind of stuff. In a lot of western countries where racism and hatespeech can get you in trouble, you are still totally allowed to criticize cultures, immigrants and other stuff like that.

WhoPutDisHere

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I'd love a list of examples by country and their specificities? If not it just feels like you're saying, "your free speech is too free"?

x00za

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Specificities?

A few out of the top of my head: France, Belgium, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Australia.

In all of these countries free speech is a right, but blatant racism, hate speech, or propaganda based upon such basis, can all get you fined and possibly even jailed.

matengor

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To be honest, although it was dumb, it was also unfortunate. There is no way we will get a hold on viral fake news because there will always be that one unlucky or stupid bastard posting something silly.

Don't eat the pets, people!