A Minnesota resident, Ben Dorr, takes credit for the recent surge of nitwits protesting in regional state capitals. The article calls him an “activist”, but a more accurate term would be “parasite”.
Amid the honking cars and the chants of “USA, USA,” the group’s leader, Ben Dorr, took credit for helping draw supporters to the rally.
“We’re done being quarantined, we’re done having our freedoms taken,” said Dorr. “It’s time to open up America.”
Across the country, Dorr and his older brothers, Chris and Aaron, have long opposed Republican legislators for not being conservative enough on issues ranging from guns to abortion. Their detractors say they spread disinformation to sow confusion among voters.
That’s right, this is not a new thing. The Dorrs are fanatical gun fondlers, and likewise fanatical anti-abortionists. If there’s a right wing mania about anything, the Dorrs will crank it up to 11 and monetize it.
Based on publicly available tax documents, the Dorrs’ efforts in Minnesota, Iowa and Ohio have raised more than $2.9 million since 2013, with at least a third of it going to a direct mail printing company in Iowa owned by the Dorr family.
This is how they make money, and quite a bit of it, by making swarms of Facebook groups and using them to whip the far right into a froth and compel them to make donations. They’re all about god, guns, and domination over womankind. Primarily, though, they are masters of Facebook, and have figured out the strategies behind the media and use it to recruit followers and radicalize them and empty their pockets.
Jeez, but I despise Facebook.
On the Reopen Minnesota page, which has 22,000 followers, members have likened coronavirus to the flu (coronavirus is more deadly), have questioned the science of wearing masks, even though it’s recommended by public health officials in Trump’s administration, and suggested that death rate numbers are being inflated to scare people into compliance.
They also like to oppose education and keep people ignorant. There’s more profit in stupid people, you know. Isn’t it amazing how Facebook has turned the internet into a tool for ignorance?
Aaron, Chris and Ben Dorr’s father Paul is also well known for fighting public school referendums in Iowa and in the Midwest. Motivated by his belief that children should be home-schooled or within a religious community, he’s also created Facebook pages, websites and videos to make his case.
One thing that’s amusing about them is that the Minnesota Republicans hate them with a passion, because they routinely take political positions so far to the right of the Republicans, and then target Republicans as milktoast wimps. They created a website to specifically explain that the Dorrs are scammers. “Right now, Senate Republicans are the only thing stopping Democrats from passing radical gun control”…how dare the Dorrs criticize us for not being radical enough?
They’re also fake activists. They talk the wild and crazy talk, but they don’t walk the wild and crazy walk — they just amble back to their computers to lie and beg for more money.
While Ben and his brother Chris are registered as lobbyists, Daudt said they do little to advance issues at the Capitol or support legislators during campaign season.
He recalled seeing Ben Dorr filming a video on the Capitol steps several years ago:
“He was just going on and on about how he’s going to turn around right now and go to so-and-so’s office and I’m not going to leave until they take a meeting with me,” Daudt said. “Then they cut the video … and they just wandered off to their vehicles.”
“They are definitely misleading people to make people think they are involved and engaged here,” Daudt said.
And that’s the kind of person behind the current wave of phony protests. There are exploiters out there who can mobilize the fringe to do stupid things that get their faces on the news.
Parasites like Dorr make Guinea Worms look warm and cuddly by comparison.
When does the eradication program begin?
The protest here Oregon is scheduled for May 1st. That really pisses me off. Mayday/World Workers Day is a demonstration I participate in every year so this is doubly insulting for me. The holiday that Patriot Prayer and Proud Boys used to counter protest to, is being usurped by Patriot Prayer and Proud Boys. That is infuriating for me. I can’t even counter protest because I’m obeying the quarantine orders. Fucking assholes.
“The Republicans hate these people because they take such extreme positions”? That’s what people said about the bible-thumpers in the 70s, and about the Tea Party. At some point, these people will be the Republican Party. At this point, it’s a well-established pattern. The missing step in the description is that the rich will find a way to profit off of it.
Aaron, Ben, Chris? What, did their parents name them alphabetically?
Naw, not quite.
I’m sure the Minnesota GOP hates them for the usual reason.
The Dorrs siphon money away from the GOP and into their own bank accounts.
Follow the money.
I am pissed off that some stupid stupid people over here are having a lock down rally ,I think it’s at the weekend .
The UK gets more like amurica every sodding day .
Libby Anne has a post (https://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/2020/04/pro-life-lt-gov-there-are-more-important-things-than-living.html) pointing out that there are at least some people who
a) protest lockdown because their personal liberty and bank account are more important than human lives
while also
b) protest abortion rights because a woman’s personal liberty and bank account are less important than human lives
One set of rules for me, another for thee.
Those are standard misinformation tropes being promulgated online, on Fox News, and by Russian trolls and bots.
Putin doesn’t have to invent lies in order to cause discord in the USA. His henchmen just amplify whatever stupidity is already there. Ditto for people like Brad Parscale, who is running Trump’s 2020 campaign. And, yes, they use Facebook a lot to spread disinformation. Different kind of virus, but deadly.
After days and days of reading about these dangerous fools, all I can say is this:
Opening up America from quarantine will be open like the blood eagle.
(Blood eagle: claimed torture/execution method of the Vikings. It’s very gross.)
hmmm. This might actually help:
Link
Country of origin based on billing address? IP address? That sounds stupidly naive – FB knows better.
Don’t you love the smell of freshly cut astroturf?
An article in the Washington Post by Isaac Stanley-Becker and Tony Romm show how these supposedly “spontaneous” protests are actually supported behind the scenes by conservative activists and GOP mega-donors. It reveals a tangled web of conservative entities helping to instigate and exacerbate frustration with social lockdown. Of course, some are cashing in on this, too. The article is dated 4/22. It’s good reading, but not surprising.
Greg Palast has important info on voter suppression.
jack16