Trump's racist rant used to raise money for Springfield, Ohio SPCA

[boingboing]

Originally published at: Trump's racist rant used to raise money for Springfield, Ohio SPCA - Boing Boing

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[Otherbrother]

@boingboing

The Kiffness announced on his social media that all proceeds from streams of the song will be donated to Clark County SPCA in Springfield, Ohio.

I’m sure that that branch of the SCPA, like the SCPA in general, does great work and could use the money. But it still feels weird using this racist blood libel as a means for fundraising for that organization and that location in particular, because it implicitly suggests that animals in that specific area are in need of extra protection, feeding into the conspiracy.

[Shuck]

Yeah, simply repeating, even in mocking form, that racist libel gave me pause, but at least he did remove the bit where Trump claims it was immigrants, thus making it seem like the people of Ohio in general are really into eating cats and dogs.

[Kii]

@Otherbrother

But it still feels weird using this racist blood libel as a means for fundraising for that organization and that location in particular, because it implicitly suggests that animals in that specific area are in need of extra protection, feeding into the conspiracy.

I took it more as Kiffness wanted to mock Trump and what he said. Then decided the money should go to somewhere actually helping pets instead of spreading this blood libel.

I’m not sure if repeating the blood libel as mockery will help diffuse it but I think it might. Trying to ignore the blood libel isn’t going to help. We do have serious people making videos and talking about how harmful these lies are (like John legend on tiktok). The mockery emphasizes how incredibly ridiculous the claims are and implies anyone who takes them seriously deserves to be mocked as well.

[Brainspore]

@Kii

I took it more as Kiffness wanted to mock Trump and what he said. Then decided the money should go to somewhere actually helping pets instead of spreading this blood libel.

Maybe a better idea in this case would be to donate the money to an organization that helps support Haitian immigrants and refugees.

I believe Kiffness genuinely meant well but there’s been a well-documented trend of people getting more upset about real or perceived injustices committed against pets than against other humans—especially Black people. This fits into that pattern because there are very real victims of Trump’s racist rant and they aren’t the pets.

Some White Folks Care More About Dogs Than Black People—And It’s F*cking...

[Kii]

All very true, an organization to help immigrants would have been a better choice.
The particular expression of racism in people caring more about pets than Black people is probably why this particular set of lies gained so much traction. MAGA has spent years trying to inflame followers and gain followers with the rhetoric about immigrants being criminals, particularly rapists and child abusers. The town in Colorado where the MAGAs have lied about a “Venezuelan gang” taking over an apartment complex doesn’t seem to have gotten as much attention or bomb threats. No pets and no Black people as criminals in that particular set of racist lies.

[robertmckenna]

@Shuck

the people of Ohio in general are really into eating cats and dogs

Wait, It's All Ohio? Always Has Been

As an aside on how weird memes decontextualised can mess with people’s heads:

We were talking of a family trip to Chicago to see friends in a year or two and my younger was asking me where’s that. I explained Illinois, may have mentioned Great Lakes, Midwest, and that it was a really cool city with great stuff and she said “why can’t we go somewhere cool like Ohio?”

For kids Ohio is the place that the internet says everything is from.