05/28/2022
The Milford Conservative Group has continued to engage in aggressive, conspiratorial and hateful content in the past few days. While none of these rose to the ranks of major posts with dozens of comments like others have, they still remain at the top of the group with regular interactions. Admins have more then likely seen all the posts shown, given that they were continuously active throughout the past few days. Some Admins even liked the posts shown. None were taken down. These groups actively promote hate, bigotry, and conspiracy theories with no repercussions. Here are a few examples from the past week:
Multiple members of our local community engaged with a post by describing George Floyd, the man killed by police 2 years ago, as a "thug", "drug addict", "criminal" and a person with a "deranged drug addiction". Many of these claims echo vaguely racist sentiments directed towards Floyd, especially the comment describing him as a "thug". No condemnations were made and a moderator participated in the discussion.
Within both the Milford/Miami Township Conservative Group and another local private group, Milford School Board member Melissa Nolan on at least two occasions amplified conspiracy theories regarding Monkeypox in light of a rash of new cases. One image posted by Nolan suggests that the government is attempting to conceal COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects such as shingles by passing them off as new Monkeypox cases. This claim was repeatedly debunked by news agencies including Reuters. However, the image Nolan posted in the comments section was later reposted by Bea Norris in two groups. Beneath one of these reposts, Nolan liked a comment which appears to suggest that the recent Monkeypox outbreak is fake/was planned in advance and organized by a global governmental body. This claim is also verifiably false.
Speaking of Nolan, she recently joined another private Facebook group which this page will monitor was well. Nolan joined the private Facebook group, Friends of Liberty United Ohio, a local conservative group whose meetings she attended while running for School Board. Friends of Liberty United has very little public information and did not disclose much when interviewed by the Enquirer a year ago. The group was conceived as a Tea-Party offshoot initially, and got local attention when a survey it put out asked if gay members should be allowed to join. The group has also attracted attention for hosting events with candidates like Mark Pukita for Senate who promoted QAnon theories.
Last night, a post was made to the Milford Conservative Group which discussed the recent mass shooting in Uvalde. This post was fairly mundane and discussed policies to remedy the issue. However, in the comments one user posted an image which amplified the false, incredibly dangerous, and bigoted theory that the mass shooter in Uvalde was a trans girl. The image in the Conservative group was liked by a moderator. The picture posted by the user showed Sam, a trans girl from Georgia who has repeatedly spoken out against the use of her images to suggest that she was the perpetrator. Another comment stated the cause of the shooting was the "feminization of our boys", a clear reference to the recent bigoted theories swirling around the shooting. The original claim that the shooter was a trans woman came from 4chan, an online message board known for right-wing extremism and the spread of false information. Other individuals who have been falsely identified as suspects in mass shootings have filed defamation lawsuits against public figures. This specific instance is dangerous, likely to result in threats/harm coming to the kids misidentified, and fueled by intense transphobia.
Overall, the past few days like every few days in these groups have featured bigoted comments, absurd conspiracy theories, and a harmful showcase of both transphobia and misinformation. At the time of writing, none of these comments have been removed or even questioned. This is the behavior and content that is a constant presence in these groups.
