We need fewer jokes and more accountability from leaders who stir up chaos and endanger our communities, a Chicago communications consultant writes.
Are we done yet with the cat memes? I certainly hope so. For more than a week, jokes about rescuing Ohio’s pets had been consuming all the oxygen in my social media feeds. It was, in a way, a logical response to former President Donald Trump’s crude attack on Haitian immigrants during his ABC debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. I’m referencing, of course, his denouncing Haitian refugees in Springfield, Ohio with, “They’re eating the dogs!”
While many have initially focused on the humor of this ridiculous spectacle, I can’t find it funny. In fact, the more we learn about both the impact of this racist attack as well as its origin, the more apparent it becomes that Trump and running mate JD Vance are leading their followers down a very dangerous path. And those who amplify their narrative with jokes are, perhaps unwittingly, piling on as a new group of “others” are dehumanized and victimized by thinly-disguised hate speech.
Where did this nonsense come from? There are competing reports about the origin of the lie. Some thought it started with a third-hand FaceBook post subsequently retracted by its author (who has withdrawn her daughter from school out of fear for her safety) But the neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe first amplified these false claims in August. These white supremacists knew exactly what they were doing with an unfounded attack that reads like a page from the original Nazi playbook.
