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At a glance
- The claim that U.S. mercenaries entered Canada to help local military police disperse protesters came from the Facebook account "Snyder County Police Department" and was further spread by right-wing politician Wildwood in Alberta, Canada.
- The Snyder County Police Department is a satirical account that often makes ridiculous statements. Snyder, a town in Arkansas, was destroyed in a major tornado in 1929 and became a ghost town.
Event background
Recently, protests by truck drivers in Canada have attracted attention.
On January 15, the Canadian government introduced new epidemic prevention regulations, requiring truck drivers traveling between Canada and the United States to show vaccination certificates when entering Canada, and public opinion rebounded sharply. On January 23, truck drivers formed a "free convoy" and drove to the capital, Ottawa, to participate in the demonstrations.
In response, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau introduced the Emergency Law and sent military police to disperse street demonstrators to quell the protests.
Some netizens reported on social platforms that "foreign mercenaries" also participated in the operation, standing on the side of the Canadian government to help the local military police "clear the scene". The term "mercenary" refers to "riot police from a state in the south of the United States."
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The user, "Jacob," posted a screenshot of Facebook status from the Sneed County Sheriff Department.
In this status, the Snyd County Police Department writes, "We are very proud to see that Snyd County Police Bogstein helped the Canadian government destroy the illegal occupation that took place in its capital." ”
The account also said, "Snyder County Police sent a bus — 20 well-trained officers who have received the IDF (note: the IDF acronym has multiple interpretations, the most reasonable explanation here is the Israeli Defense Force) to support Canada." ”
It turns out that the news was first reported on Twitter "thanks" to a politician, Nadine Wellwood from Banff Airdrie, Alberta, Canada. On Feb. 20, she tweeted the "Snyder County Police Department" statement with the caption: "This explains so much . They are not all our people. The tweet immediately sparked heated discussion and received thousands of turns, comments and likes.
Screenshot of Wildwood Tweet.
Last October, Wildwood ran into the Alberta Parliament as one of three candidates for the right-wing People's Party of Canada, although in the end, the Canadian People's Party lost to the Conservative Party and Wildwood did not enter the provincial council as he wished.
After the mass outbreak of protests by truck drivers in Canada, Wildwood tweeted heavily in solidarity with the "grassroots movement" of drivers " for freedom and rights " , slamming "excessive government intervention" and "police tyranny" as well. It is clear that Wildwood's accusations of "outside interference" carry a clear negative sentiment.
However, a public search found that Wildwood was actually fooled.
"Snyd" is not a real place name, or it once existed, but it has long been "modern Atlantis" - on April 10, 1929, a tornado swept through Jackson County in the southern United States, and "Snyd" became a "ghost town". The U.S. Weather Service records show that this is the only F5 tornado in Arkansas that killed 23 people and injured at least 59 others, and is also known as "Snyder Tornado" because it was the hardest hit.
Screenshot of the official file of the United States Weather Service.
Today, Snyder, the so-called "southern state of the United States", is no longer a formal administrative division, so why send "mercenaries" to support Canadian military and police operations? Not to mention sending local police to Israel for excellent training by the Israel Defense Forces.
In addition, the "Snyd County Police Department" account that posted the news was marked by Facebook as "ironic ridicule.".
Screenshot of the "Snyd County Police Department" Facebook page.
In past articles, "The Paper" has written about this genre of news reporting, which is popular in the European and American worlds. In simple terms, satirical journalism is a "different narrative" of events, which provokes readers to think through spicy and playful ridicule and discussions related to current events. Although irony cannot be equated with fake news, the former did provide the soil for the birth of the latter. And Wildwood, in this communication event, is the reader who does not know the truth and is fooled by the satirical news.
Of course, Wildwood is not the only netizen who has been "deceived". A day after the news was posted, the comments above the Facebook state were drowned out by scolding. Some netizens believed it, and these harsh criticisms also received many laughing expressions at the same time.
Dan Bowins: "Be sure to show us where America-trained police officers swore in support of the Canadian Constitution." Sending 20 officers to Canada, you're just showing the world that you have too many employees"; Cynthia Ringo: "So we sent American law enforcement officers to help a tyrannical government suppress legitimate protests." This is not something you should be proud of. Shame on you! ”
Under the pressure of public opinion, a day later, the "Snyd County Police Department" released a status, joking: "About yesterday, my favorite part is the people who bombed this homepage in private messages and did not understand irony." The account posted a screenshot and solemnly told the netizens who came to ask for verification," Sheriff Goldberg, Blatter and Bogstein led the operation. ”
Screenshot of the new status of the "Snyder County Police Department".
In addition to the ironic tweets of "Snead police support Canada", the account also issued a series of bizarre statements. For example, on September 22 last year, the Snyder County Police Department issued a wanted notice offering a $10,000 reward for the arrest of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The status states that Zuckerberg is a "reptilian humanoid hybrid" who is wanted for "domestic terrorism" and "interference in law enforcement activities." The account also claimed that it had been banned for 30 days for Zuckerberg's sake, causing "well-known Taliban fighter Samir Haida" to flee from Snyd County to Afghanistan.
"Zuckerberg Wanted" issued by the Snyder County Police Department.
The "Zuckerberg is a lizard" conspiracy theory is not new on social platforms. In 2017, in an open conversation with high school students, Zuckerberg mispronounced "I was human." Although he quickly corrected himself again— "I am still human." But I am human, still. But, um, but I was just referring to myself in the past. Not that I was not human), but the myth that Zuckerberg is not human is still circulating. It wasn't until 2018, when he was questioned by Congress for leaking user privacy on Facebook, that rumors of combining Zuckerberg with lizards reached their peak.
In summary, the claim that U.S. mercenaries entered Canada to help local military police disperse protesters came from the Facebook satire account "Snyd County Police Department" and was further disseminated by Alberta politician Wildwood. "Snyder" is not a real place name, and the police department account often publishes some ridiculous statements. Many netizens believe that it is true, but the news cannot be taken seriously.
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Some netizens reported on social platforms that "foreign mercenaries" also participated in the operation, standing on the side of the Canadian government to help the local military police "clear the scene". The term "mercenary" refers to "riot police from a state in the south of the United States." Mingcha