Last night I published a long thread about the Seattle Police Dept's disinformation campaign aimed at fomenting chaos, discrediting protesters, and stoking fears of racist violence. Tonight I want to talk about how that disinformation is spread.
The disinformation campaign started weeks ago, but really took off this past Monday after SPD abandoned their East Precinct, leaving it to protesters who renamed the area the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, or CHAZ. 
That night, Seattle Police used the police scanner to fake a story about 30 white supremacists, marching with their flags and firearms, headed for CHAZ. They did this for hours, clearly intending to spark chaos and fear at CHAZ.
But that's not quite what happened. Instead of panicking, the community leapt into action to protect each other. The protesters at CHAZ set up barricades and armed security guards to protect the people if needed.
(If you do not understand why black people might arm themselves against large groups of armed, flag-toting, white men being escorted by the police, I suggest you spend less time on twitter and more time with a history book)
In the end, it turned out to be a hoax, but the community learned it could protect itself.
It also resulted in pictures like this, taken that night, which quickly became associated with the new community.
It also resulted in pictures like this, taken that night, which quickly became associated with the new community.
36 hours later, Seattle Police called a press conference to claim they heard reports that protesters at CHAZ were running ID checkpoints, and extorting protection money from local businesses. The claims were repeated by Seattle Times, among others.
The claims turned out to be entirely bogus (24 hours later Seattle Times would report that the extortion claims came from a local far-right blogger, Ari Hoffman, who writes for Andy Ngo's "news" website). But that didn't stop it from spreading.
By that afternoon the story was on local rightwing talk-radio and conservative websites, where the story was published alongside pictures of armed protesters, many of them taken from the night of the police hoax.
It eventually made its way to Tucker Carlson, which is likely where the President of The United States saw it, causing him to tweet nonsensical (but still dangerous) threats of military violence against the city of Seattle.
It also put CHAZ on the radar of local rightwing social media, conservative hate-groups, and armed militias. Rightwing message boards across the country are now filled with violent threats and rallying cries against CHAZ.
This morning, the Chief of Police released a video in which she repeats the same bogus claims from the day before. It wasn't until a few hours later at a press conference that she admitted it wasn't true.
But she didn't just say that it wasn't true. She claimed that she had heard about it through the media. But, of course, the media had heard it from the police. And the police had heard it from the media.
So, to recap:
- Police perpetrate a hoax about impending racist violence.
- CHAZ moves to defend itself and each other.
- A far-right blogger makes up a story about extortion.
- Police repeat the lie.
- Police perpetrate a hoax about impending racist violence.
- CHAZ moves to defend itself and each other.
- A far-right blogger makes up a story about extortion.
- Police repeat the lie.
- Media embellishes the lie, and uses photos taken during the police hoax to argue CHAZ is a violent warzone.
- President Trump sees those news reports, threatens military violence on Seattle.
- President Trump sees those news reports, threatens military violence on Seattle.
And then Mayor Durkan, one of the few people with the power to rapidly change the situation, exploits the opportunity to score cheap social media points, pretending as if she is defending the people of this city.
And this is just since Monday. This story will feed itself for days from here, and Seattle Police will continue to add fuel to the fire when necessary, eventually using any change in public sentiment to justify violently cracking down on protesters.
Little of this is planned, this is not some strategic conspiracy from brilliant minds at City Hall... it's just the dangerous result of how rightwing media and police feed off one another. I have seen no evidence to suggest this will stop any time soon.
So, please stay skeptical of local establishment media who parrot talking points from Seattle Police, a) department that has done nothing but lie to them (and you) for weeks on end. And if you hear a story too sensational to be true, it probably is.
And don't be mistaken, this PR war is not their endgame. It is just a way for them to shift public sentiment enough to justify violence... likely at a level we haven't seen before here in Seattle. We keep CHAZ safe by refusing to let their disinformation campaign be a success.
