Burning Bibles in Portland?

[James48]

So last night the right-wing media exploded after protestors in Portland set an American flag on fire, and then threw pieces of paper on the fire.

Russian RT media video showed the lighting of the flag, and reported that Bibles were being burned in the fire. Yes, RUSSIAN RT.

Then, a half-hour later, “Babylon Bee” wrote that protestors were burning bibles.

Within another half-hour, Brietbart, and a half-dozen other right-wing media outlets stated the Black Lives Matter protestors were burning American Flags and Bibles.

A local TV station picked up and said Bibles were burned, https://www.koin.com/news/protests/night-64-portland-firefighters-for-blm-vigils-and-community-healing/
And then “The Blaze”, the “New York Post”, and a dozen other right leaning news sources all started reporting bible burning and flag burning. (It was just two Americans flags, as far as I can tell, by a small group, several hours after a fire was set by the large group).

How the hell do you counter incendiary (no pun intended) false information like burning Bibles?

And democratic leaders at all levels should denounce the burning of an American flag by the Portland protestors. That isn’t called for.

[secondwind]

1. This is getting worse by the minute.....

[dixiechiken1]

2. Whether we agree with it or not...

Burning the flag is protected under the First Amendment. As it should be.

[blm]

17. Yes, but my bet would be on the flagburners being Proud Boys

and other Right wing extremist performers.

[dewsgirl]

19. 1000 percent this.

[dixiechiken1]

23. Agree 1000%

Agent provocateurs, IMO.

[brooklynite]

18. And mindlessly stupid when engaged in.

[ChazII]

3. The Babylon Bee is like The Onion

in that both sites are satire.

[Celerity]

10. +1000

insanity reigns

[Squinch]

4. Well, of course! They were signalling to the demons that they were ready for sex. What do you

do when you want to have sex with a demon and get that demon DNA?

I have always used the sacrificing of the goat method. But lately I find the class of demon that attracts is not very diligent about hygiene.

Maybe I'll try that Bible burning thing...

[dixiechiken1]

6. *SNORT*

[lastlib]

8. If that doesn't work, try burning "Art of the Deal."

(a USED copy, of course.)

[Squinch]

9. No. The demons love that book. It's full of lies and stupidity, which are their favorite things.

[2naSalit]

29. I know, right?

[Brother Buzz]

36. DUzy worthy!

[Croney]

5. If they have to burn scraps of fabric and pieces of paper on their journey

toward changing this country for the better, I don't give a shit.

[BlueJac]

11. Protesting and standing up against tyranny,

Ok with me.

[Chainfire]

12. Stories like this are a warm-up

for the coming attacks on Joe Biden, where the truth matters less than the message.

[OneBro]

13. What's your secret?

What makes you so sure it was protestors and not yet another insecure, emotionally damaged Proud Boy pretending to be a protestor so he could do something so perfectly calculated to get a response from the Fox Limbaugh Breitbart crowd?

[Mariana]

22. Hey now, Russian RT had a video!

And they said it was a video of protesters in Portland burning flag and Bibles. It must be true!

[2naSalit]

30. Well that settles it Right There.

It's down and dirty from now on, expect anything and everything.

[Fla_Democrat]

14. Nothing says Anti Fascist quite like

burning books.

[Mariana]

20. The OP hasn't provided any evidence that books were burned. nt.

[brooklynite]

25. Video

Link to tweet

[LizBeth]

28. That book didn't even kinda look like a bible.

[3Hotdogs]

15. I can't participate.

I would never buy one in the first place.

[LiberalFighter]

16. Bibles were probably printed in China anyhow.

[gulliver]

21. Voting for Republicans is burning bibles and flags symbolically now.

[brooklynite]

24. Where is the evidence that KOIN TV "pick up the story" from RT or anyone else...

...rather than engaging in its own news reporting?

[yewberry]

32. The KOIN story doesn't include the supposed book burning.

Two different stories, one appears true and the other, maybe not so much.

[brooklynite]

34. Extract...

Around 12:30 a.m. people began starting a fire in the street in front of the federal courthouse which started with burning a bible, then an American flag, until more and more items were added.

https://www.koin.com/news/protests/night-64-portland-firefighters-for-blm-vigils-and-community-healing/

[yewberry]

35. But no footage of it.

So still, the only footage that seems to exist of the supposed book burning is from a Russian source. KOIN may have reported it, but it seems to be uncorroborated.

[yewberry]

26. I actually think the video is a fake.

The supposed "burning bibles" footage is ONE video provided by Ruptly (which is RT). There is no other footage that I have seen of this act-- what are the odds of that, given that everyone carries phones that could capture a different view that could corroborate the story?

Also, in at least one of the "burning flags" videos released by Ruptly (again, RT) one of the flags being burned is very clearly not an American flag (our flag doesn't have blue stripes last time I checked.)

So, Russian sources inciting division. Imagine that, who'da thunk it?

[crickets]

27. +1

[2naSalit]

31. +1

[James48]

37. The other flag burned

Was a Trump flag.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

33. This wouldn't be an issue if we didn't have...

... so many superstitious people in this country.

Past polls showed that atheists were the least likely to ever be elected President. Lower than any race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. That's just SICK to me.

Now we have an idiot sociopath in the WH with overwhelming support from white evangelicals.

[kentuck]

38. They are playing their roles perfectly.

And I bet Trump didn't even have to pay them?

[Sapient Donkey]

39. I just saw this and went out to confirm if it was true or not

Not because think burning a bible or any holy book should be illegal, but because I don't really understand why anyone would think that's helpful. The same goes with the flag too. Every right to burn it, but how does that help? The burning the bibles really strikes me as counterproductive, though. Reminds me a lot of those idiots who burned the Quran awhile back. Sure, you can do it, but why?

Unfortunately it does seem to be real as I was able to find video of it. What's not totally clear is who exactly the bible burners are. At this point I figure it could go either way based on some of the stuff I've seen/heard. I would love to see an interview with them to understand their thought process. Even if these burners are provocateurs, I would have hoped some of the people in the crowd would have called them out on it rather than cheering it on. I don't know what to make of that. I don't think it's just the mainstream democratic politicians that should condemn this, but so do the more visible activist leaders across the board. I may be wrong, but it seems like a lot of the legitimate protesters who are looking to fix our system have distanced themselves from what's going on there. Maybe not, though. I'm not there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10696&v=8ywRxKSb3uw


*edit* I typed condone instead of condemn. I should proof read before and immediately after posting, not 20 minutes later. teehee

[blogslut]

40. That video is from Ruptly RT Russia

[Sapient Donkey]

41. Yeah, the tiny clip I saw had that.

That was why I went out to find a longer video of it to confirm it was in fact where they claimed etc... I totally do not discount the possibility that this was staged to incite, and wouldn't be surprised if so. But on the other hand I've interacted with enough of the more radical folks to have me believe it's organic and that RT is just exploiting it. Even if staged, it seems difficult to get all the people in the crowd to be part of the act. But either way, I still think anyone who is out there who has some sort of visibility as a leader, should denounce this as unhelpful.

This also doesn't look like a massive bible burning as is being suggested by some outlets are suggesting. Which is good. So, it could be that the majority of people just didn't know.