This is not a diary I wanted to post. (I haven’t seen anything on it here, but if there is, believe me, I will GLADLY delete it, and we can all get on with our day.)
You see, I’ve been fervently arguing with someone for the past several days who thinks the coronavirus threat is somehow tied to 5G and that the virus isn’t even the cause of deaths and is only a plant to cover for something else and was engineered by evil scientists and we’re in for a one-world fascist takeover and blah blah blah…
The person I’ve been arguing with has a bit of difficulty grasping reality at times and is impervious to even the most basic facts, so I thought this must be the domain of a few wackos and that’s it.
Nope!
Now arsonists are setting cell phone towers on fire in England and threatening telecom workers. Just ignore that communications are critically important to people’s LIVES right now.
Expect the same loony-toon behavior soon here in the U.S. There are entire Facebook groups with thousands of followers dedicated to this subject, encouraging people to burn down cell phone towers, and it looks like once again Russia may be behind the whole thing. A new breed of anti-vaxxers! Of Sandy Hook deniers! When does this s*** end?
5G spreads coronavirus? Really, people?? How in the hell can … oh, never mind.
Reuters:
When asked by a reporter about the so called “theory” that 5G telecommunications masts could play a role in the spread of the disease, British Cabinet Officer Minister Michael Gove said: “That is just nonsense, dangerous nonsense as well.”
Mobile phone masts have in recent days been vandalised and telecoms staff abused in Birmingham in central England and Merseyside in northern England, damaging connectivity at a time when people are relying on it more than ever.
An arson attack at a tower in Birmingham owned by BT (BT.L), Britain’s biggest telecoms company, caused significant damage. It provided 2G, 3G and 4G services to thousands of people, but did not have 5G capability, the company said.
The Verge:
“I’m absolutely outraged and disgusted that people would be taking action against the infrastructure we need to tackle this emergency,” said Stephen Powis, the National Health Service (NHS) director, at a daily UK coronavirus briefing. Police have now launched investigations into how the 5G towers caught fire.
[...]
Like many conspiracy theories and disinformation campaigns, Russia may well be at the heart of the 5G health scares. While a large number of Facebook groups have been fueling these theories recently, a New York Times report from last year warned that Russian disinformation campaigns were actively exploiting 5G health fears. RT America, a Russian government-funded TV network, aired a report more than a year ago in which an RT reporter claimed 5G “might kill you.”