Alt-Right Frames Wrong Esteban Santiago for Shooting, Kickstarts Racist Conspiracy Theory

[DonViejo]

As soon as the Fort Lauderdale airport shooter’s identity emerged, so did the alt-right’s racist conspiracy hoaxes.

BEN COLLINS

01.06.17 5:40 PM ET

Far rightwing figureheads immediately invented an elaborate and racist conspiracy theory that CNN had lightened a photo of alleged Fort Lauderdale airport shooter Esteban Santiago shortly after the Friday attack.

In reality, CNN had yet to air a picture of Santiago, let alone lightened a picture of him. The conspiracy also used a picture of an entirely different man named Esteban Santiago—not the alleged shooter.

Still, writers at websites like InfoWars and Gateway Pundit tweeted about CNN’s nonexistent Photoshop job. Former Republican Florida Congressman Allen West, who represented Fort Lauderdale itself, even tweeted about the conspiracy and linked to an article about it on his own website.

“Why is CNN attempting to make the shooter look more white? Bizarre,” reads InfoWars editor Paul Joseph Watson’s tweet, which had 3,500 retweets at press time.

Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft even wrote a story about the so-called incident, titled “Look How CNN Doctored Photo of Ft. Lauderdale Shooter Esteban Santiago,” which had 2,500 shares in its first hour on Facebook, according to BuzzSumo.

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/06/inside-the-alt-right-s-florida-airport-shooter-esteban-santiago-hoax.html

[underpants]

1. They collectively created a conspiracy of their own doing

and it wasn't even a "slow news day"

Don, check this out. The bizarre headlines from their world


http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1016&pid=173980

[ck4829]

2. A conspiracy of conspiracy theorists

[ck4829]

3. And their conspiracy theory about Hillary's emails also plays a role

Maybe if alt-right enabler James Comey wasn't obsessed with Hillary's emails at the time, they could have provided the Esteban Santiago who did the shooting with the help he so desperately needed.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028444775

It's the Benghazi of the emailists.