Other images displayed by Trump during meeting with South African president Cyril Ramaphosa were false or misleading

Other images displayed by Trump during meeting with South African president Cyril Ramaphosa were false or misleading

The evidence of supposed mass killings of white South Africans presented by Donald Trump in a tense White House meeting on Wednesday were in some cases images from the Democratic Republic of Congo, while footage shown during the meeting was falsely portrayed as depicting “burial sites”.

“These are all white farmers that are being buried,” said Trump, holding up a print-out of an article accompanied by a picture during the contentious Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The picture accompanying the article was in fact a screengrab of a video published by Reuters on 3 February and subsequently verified by the news agency’s fact check team, showing humanitarian workers lifting body bags in the Congolese city of Goma. The image was pulled from Reuters footage shot after deadly battles with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.

  • parpolEnglish
    326·
    16 小时前

    Oops, you weren’t supposed to ask about those.

      • parpolEnglish
        223·
        16 小时前

        So far only one of them appeared to be from congo. What about the rest? Are we going to throw it all out because one was from Congo, and because a memorial mistaken for a burial site (literally makes no difference)

        • warbond@lemmy.worldEnglish
          11·
          13 小时前

          It’s a government official making a claim based on easily verifiable bad evidence, so if the whole thing wasn’t suspect before, it most certainly is now, right? Why should we give the benefit of the doubt? Not only has the administration not earned that right, they’ve shown over and over again that they don’t extend that benefit to anyone else.

          It fucking amazes me that we don’t hold our leaders to a higher standard, and it worries me that people don’t seem to want to.

          • parpolEnglish
            110·
            13 小时前

            If it is easily verifiable, then how about we verify it right now? So what about those other cases not from Congo?

            Why should we give the benefit of the doubt?

            Because people are dead, and it is the choice between “ingore” or “start and investigation”

            I agree trump is a hack, but I want to know about those other cases.

              • parpolEnglish
                13·
                5 小时前

                I did read it. It is one of those articles with a clear political bias, trying to spin the story as if all of it is false because one thing was false. Anyone eating it up is doing so because they either can’t think for themselves or don’t want to.

                Are you done following me around in this thread?

          • parpolEnglish
            216·
            15 小时前

            That’s what we’re asking. Can you stop?

            • TachyonTele@lemm.eeEnglish
              164·
              15 小时前

              Im asking you which you’re talking about. Everyone else already knows the answer.

              • parpolEnglish
                315·
                15 小时前

                “The evidence of supposed mass killings of white South Africans presented by Donald Trump in a tense White House meeting on Wednesday were in some cases images from the Democratic Republic of Congo, while footage shown during the meeting was falsely portrayed as depicting “burial sites”.”

                “In some cases” means less than a majorty of the cases. We’re talking about the rest. Do you and “everyone else” know something about these other ones we don’t?

                • snooggums@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  10·
                  14 小时前

                  When we know multiple pictures are bullshit it makes the rest of them questionable by default.

                  • parpolEnglish
                    29·
                    14 小时前

                    Yes, questionable. It doesn’t make them false by default, and it doesn’t mean anyone asking “what about the rest of them?” needs to be downvoted by the circlejerk mob. We’re back at my point in my original comment.

                • TachyonTele@lemm.eeEnglish
                  82·
                  14 小时前

                  Are you trying to claim the made up conspiracy theories about white genocide are in fact real?

                  • parpolEnglish
                    27·
                    13 小时前

                    Replacement theory is a conspiracy theory about white replacement in western countries, not a place where a real minority is the target of a large amount of hate. The South African minority white people have not ever been part of this conspiracy theory. Lumping them together is dangerous logic often used in genocide denial.

                    Is genocide happening? I don’t know. If people are claiming to be victims, then it should be taken seriously even if they’re white. So here we are, someone asked “what about the other ones”, got downvoted, and people start arguing “no, it’s not real” because a few of them weren’t real.