Home Science Did Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Blame A ‘Space Laser’ For Wildfires? Here’s The Response

Did Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Blame A ‘Space Laser’ For Wildfires? Here’s The Response

Did Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Blame A ‘Space Laser’ For Wildfires? Here’s The Response

You may have noticed that “Jewish Space Laser” has been trending on Twitter. After all, it’s not every day that you see a racial term and “space laser” used together. Indeed, how often do you hear things like a Black space ship, a Latino light saber, or a Chinese virus? Correction. How often do you hear the first two things at least?

The trending of “Jewish Space Laser” apparently was ignited by social media post from first-term Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia). The Facebook post was actually from 2018 but actually re-emerged sort of like something floating back to the water surface in a toilet.

In her post, Taylor Greene suggested that the 2018 California wildfires were due not to climate change leaving vegetation more combustible but instead potentially to some kind of “space laser.” Umm, space laser? As they said in the movie Wayne’s World, exsqueeze me, baking powder?

Yes, space laser. As the following tweet with Taylor Greene’s original post showed, this lasers supposedly concentrated the sun’s energy and created a solar beam that then set parts of California ablaze:

Naturally, right? While real scientists have long said that climate change has left many regions drier than before, why should anyone listen to science? Why not blame it on freaking laser beams?

So does this mean that you should never ever go outside, because you never know when space lasers may wipe you out of existence or at least give you a sunburn that would require at least SPF-40,000 to prevent? It would kind of stink to have to worry about the possibility of a secret space laser zapping you every single day. Imagine having to say, “I’ll pick you up at 6pm, unless of course a space laser makes me into crème brûlée before then.”

This would also mean that you would have to minimize time spent outside. For example, if you had to venture outside to do something like pick up a toilet paper delivery from your doorstep, you may feel compelled to duck and roll while trembling and muttering, “must avoid the space laser, must avoid the space laser,” over and over again. Indeed, the California wildfires resulted in extensive damage, air pollution, and fatalities. But a space laser that could arbitrarily set things on fire could do even greater damage. Perhaps, Taylor Greene is being incredibly brave every time she spends time outside without a force field around her.

So why does the trending phrase have the word “Jewish” in front of it? Well, Greene’s post suggested that the Rothschild banking firm is behind a supposed corporate cabal that engineered this whole space laser plot. Ah, of course, the old Rothschild family explanation again. As Zack Beauchamp wrote for Vox, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about the Rothschild family controlling the world have frequently surfaced in the past. Beauchamp explained that this was not “an isolated anti-Semitic incident for Greene.” In fact, the Editorial Board for USA TODAY wrote that “her Facebook account contained racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic views.” Beauchamp stated that Taylor Greene’s “space laser” theory is “the latest in a long line of conspiracies about the Rothschild family, and those conspiracies are always, at root, anti-Semitic: Since the 19th century, people have used claims that this one particular wealthy family controls the world to cast aspersions on Jews in general.”

Gee, blaming a racial group for a public health crisis, in this case an environmental health crisis? When has that ever happened before?

While a number of people have been understandably upset about Greene’s post, the absurdity of space laser conspiracy theory brought some interesting flames on social media. For example, since Greene did not include any pictures of the space laser, some tried to provide possible depictions such as:

Continuing on the Star Wars theme:

People suggested other uses of such space lasers such as:

And this:

Some wondered where they could pick-up such a laser, which according to the following tweet may have gone the way of toilet paper in the Spring of 2020:

Note, when shopping for toilet paper, don’t accidentally purchase a space laser. Two are not interchangeable. If you are wondering, searching for “Jewish space laser” on Amazon will just return some T-shirts and a bunch of dreidels, but no giant space laser.

Then, there’s laser envy:

Maybe Takei didn’t remember that former U.S. President and current Mar-A-Lago resident Donald Trump mentioned the “kung-flu virus” in his campaign speech. Which one would be better to have: a virus that can do martial arts, a space laser, or a “Muzlamic” ray gun?

Not everyone appreciated the value of a space laser:

So maybe a virus that can do flying kicks would be more effective?

Let’s be clear. Taylor Greene provided no real evidence of a space laser causing the wildfires. She provided no real evidence of the Rothschild family or anyone else building such a laser. There’s about as much evidence behind these conspiracy theories as there is evidence that a giant teddy bear is floating in the sky and throwing down hot dogs.

The past few years have seen a resurgence of what has occurred throughout history: blaming particular racial groups for public health problems rather than actually solving them. I’ve already written for Forbes about how those of Asian descent have been unfairly blamed for the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, harassed, and even assaulted. Speaking of unfair and the pandemic, as Zamira Rahim reported for CNN, some people have singled out Muslims for spreading the virus, even though there are plenty of non-Muslims holding mask-less parties and railing against public health measures. Then there are Black Americans, who are routinely accused in the U.S. for many of the ills of society even though they lack representation among leaders who can enact change. And, of course, Jewish people have faced their share of finger-pointing and conspiracy theories throughout history. These are just some of the wonderful examples of the racism that continues to permeate our society like fungus.

Such conspiracy theories not only make life more difficult for the demographics that are being targeted and blamed, they also make it more difficult for all of society. By distracting from and delaying real solutions to real public health problems, such blaming allows the public health problems to just get worse and worse. It would be like blaming your overflowing toilet on men who wear fanny packs. The toilet will simply continue to overflow.

Just take a look at what happened after Trump continued to call the Covid-19 coronavirus the “China virus” or the “kung-flu?” Did that stop the virus? How many lives could have been saved if he instead had focused on controlling the spread of the virus? Similarly, searching the sky for a giant “Jewish space laser” would be a waste of time, because Taylor Greene provided no real evidence that there is such a laser. It would be like looking for a huge Kardashian Space Station.

In the meantime, pollution and the climate situation has continued to get worse and worse. More wildfires seem to be emerging each year. That’s because instead of being laser focused on solving the climate change problem, some people may be actually focusing on the concept of a freaking space laser.

This article is auto-generated by Algorithm Source: www.forbes.com

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