January 25, 2022
NO ONE THOUGHT THEY HAD MEDICAL CONCERNS:
March Reveals Anti-Vax Campaign Is Driven By Far-Right Extremists (David Neiwert, January 25 | 2022, National Memo)
Many of the rally attendees wore yellow replicas of the Star of David badges that were forced upon Jewish victims of the Holocaust, and many of them carried signs referencing both that horrific episode of history and the German Nazi regime that inflicted it. So did other speakers, such as Del Bigtree, CEO of the anti-vaccination group Informed Consent Action Network, who added a threatening tone directed at journalists."Unlike the Nuremberg Trials that only tried those doctors that destroyed the lives of those human beings, we're going to come after the press," Bigtree told the crowd.Violence was also an undercurrent in the audience, some of whom carried signs suggesting a lethal response: "Shoot those who try to kidnap and vaccinate your child." Another agreed with Bigtree, calling for "Nuremberg Trials 2.0."The inherent antisemitism of the anti-vaxxers' conspiracism was also on full display: A large bus pulled up to the protest area blaring music with lyrics pronouncing "It's God Over Government," festooned on its side with mock "Wanted" posters featuring the anti-vaxxers bogeymen, notably Dr. Anthony Fauci, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and attorney Jacob Rothschild--the latter of whom has no known connection to the vaccine or mandates whatsoever, but whose last name conjures up Hitler's antisemitic conspiracy theories that identified the family as one of the primary components of the Jewish cabal that Nazis believed secretly controlled the world.The audience was a veritable showcase of the wide bandwidth of a far-right extremism. White nationalists from Nick Fuentes' "Groyper army" (who have begun attaching themselves to anti-vaxx rallies as a way to recruit new followers) brought their "America First" banners. Proud Boys, who similarly have become a presence at COVID-denialism events, were also scattered throughout the crowd.
Posted by Orrin Judd at January 25, 2022 12:00 AM
