Two unrelated facts and a lie combine to form powerful and dangerous misinformation that is spreading virally.
The reality is that drug overdose is an epidemic. Kills more than 100,000 Americans a year and that far more immigrants are crossing the country’s southern border than ever before. The lie is that immigrants are bringing in fentanyl, the highly addictive opioid behind most fatal overdoses.
In fact, most illegal fentanyl is manufactured overseas and smuggled across the southern border. However, it is mainly transported in the following ways: US citizens, not immigrants.
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According to Border Patrol data, about 90% of the fentanyl seized at the border in recent years came at legal checkpoints typically avoided by illegal immigrants, and 91% of the seizures came from U.S. citizens. It is much easier to transport fentanyl pills and powder in the thousands of vehicles that pass through legal ports of entry each day than to shuffle, walk, or climb across the border.
Yet former President Trump and other politicians and pundits have persistently linked immigration to fentanyl on the campaign trail, in Congress, and on social media. The Trump campaign’s ad says, “Record numbers are pouring across the border, costing taxpayers billions of dollars and killing nearly as many Americans from fentanyl as died in World War II. ” he warned. It showed an image of a crowd walking on the side of the road and a Fox News headline that said, “Border Patrol has seized enough fentanyl to kill all of America.”
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This is a classic example of what we call dangerous statement: Words that incite fear and violence by depicting another group of people as an existential threat. And it has dire consequences. Americans are increasingly convinced that immigrants are to blame for the fentanyl crisis. Social media posts blaming immigrants for drug casualties more than tripled from December to January, according to our analysis of more than 30 sites.
The fentanyl lie, like other dangerous rhetoric that paints immigrants as terrorists and invaders, has led to calls for states to send National Guard troops to their borders, even from places as far away as Florida. ing. That increases the risk of violent confrontations with migrants and federal Border Patrol agents.
This kind of misinformation is especially difficult to refute because it is based on genuine fear and sadness, not just partial truths. Fear is an instinctive emotion that causes a strong biological response from the human body, so most dangerous speeches evoke some kind of deadly threat.
For example, fear of disease can be contagious, as can the microorganisms that cause it. Early in the coronavirus pandemic, fear led people to believe dangerous misinformation, such as President Trump’s recommendation to take the anti-malarial drug chloroquine to protect against infection. In a recently published study, 17,000 deaths The United States and other countries banned the use of hydroxychloroquine early in the pandemic.
The combination of truth, lies, and fear has proven deadly before. For example, during the 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak, it was clear that the disease was deadly and many Congolese distrusted the government. When these facts were combined with false rumors that health workers were spreading Ebola instead of trying to prevent people from dying, health workers came under attack.misinformation inspired Nearly 500 acts of violence, at least 25 people dead.
It is vital for those in power to counter the fentanyl lie, which creates a risk of similar violence against certain groups, in this case immigrants. Moreover, such dangerous disinformation diverts attention and resources from effective responses to deadly epidemics.
Susan Benesch is Executive Director of The Dangerous Speech Project is headed by Kathryn Berger.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.