Biden warns about conspiracies flourishing in the US: 'The rest of the world's wondering about us'

Authored by edition.cnn.com and submitted by Free_Swimming
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Washington (CNN) President Joe Biden on Wednesday raised the alarm about conspiracy theories flourishing in the US and dividing the nation, warning that "the rest of the world's wondering about us."

Speaking at a CNN town hall in Ohio, Biden said the US has "got to get beyond this" moment after referencing the QAnon conspiracy theory and the role of misinformation in sowing division and unfounded fears over the Covid-19 vaccine..

"What do you say to your grandchildren or your children about what's happening? Do you ever remember a time like this before in the entire history, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican? This is not who we are," the President said.

"And I'll say one last thing: You're going to -- I've had a lot of experience internationally and -- I mean, not good or bad, just I have -- I chaired the Foreign Relations Committee, I've been deeply involved. I did national security for our last -- the administration with Barack (Obama). But folks, the rest of the world's wondering about us. Those of you who've travel abroad -- it's not a joke."

Biden's comments come as the White House has struck a confrontational posture with social media platforms over the prevalence of misleading claims, particularly as they relate to coronavirus vaccines while cases tick up nationwide.

clancy5000 on July 25th, 2021 at 14:18 UTC »

I have a sister-in-law who is neck deep into Qanon. The crazed, bizarre stuff that comes out of her mouth would make your head spin. Her husband has one foot out the door and her adult children avoid all contact with her. Yet, she can't stop.

She sent out an email last week informing the entire family that the US military was in the process of arresting hundreds of pedophiles - some of them former presidents and prime ministers and many Hollywood elites. She wanted us to all be prepared for the upcoming announcement.

Seriously. She wrote that.

max_vapidity on July 25th, 2021 at 11:52 UTC »

The weirdest thing to me is the tree of life symbiosis the rightwing propaganda channels have with each other which extend beyond the media outlets and to the politicians themselves.

I've seen this on multiple occasions but that vaccine 180 was really fucking bizarre. There was no official or prominent announcement or event yet they ALL start chirping the exact same song at the exact same time

Its really disturbing just how enmeshed their information/misinformation network is

Sybil_et_al on July 25th, 2021 at 11:18 UTC »

The rest of the world? Hell, I'm in the US, and I wonder wtf is going on, and how are we going to fix this?

Edit: Nope, not accepting that we can't fix it. We are going to fix ourselves, dammit. This is not the end of us, but it could be if we don't work on the problems that we've identified. Stop assigning blame, and work on solutions. We've done it before, we can do it again. All we're doing now is fighting each other.