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COVID-19 ‘Sacrifice the Weak’ Reopen Tennessee Protest Sign Claim Photographs and video taken of a COVID-19 anti-lockdown/Reopen Tennessee protest shows one participant holding a sign reading sacrifice the weak. Rating True Like this fact check? Reporting On April 22 2020, what appeared to be a screen capture of a WKRN-TV segment about a Reopen TN (Tennessee) anti-lockdown protest went viral on Twitter, showing a protester with a sign that read, Sacrifice the weak, re-open TN: Sacrifice the Weak – imagine not just thinking of this but actually writing it out AND taking it out on the street in Nashville, Tennessee. pic.twitter.com/dLPutBoJzG — C.S. Blennerhassett (@CSBlenner) April 22, 2020 Verbiage on the sign — and the explicit claim that lawmakers ought to sacrifice the weak to the COVID-19 pandemic — seemed too outlandish to be believed. Readers engaged in the discussion with caveats that their comments applied only if the sign hadn’t been photoshopped, and assuming it was real. In essence, the sacrifice the weak, re-open TN sign was seen by some as too cruel to be real, and possibly intended as a bombastic satirical commentary on movements to prematurely end social distancing measures: 2. I mean the dipshit with Sacrifice the weak so TN can re-open sign. If that's not photo-shopped, and actually real, it has to be astroturfing. It's a rare combination of heartlessness, and total idiocy to openly convey that amoral state to the world. #COVIDIOTS Florida is where wokes go to die... Please enable JavaScript Florida is where wokes go to die — Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) April 22, 2020 In the April 22 2020 tweet above, @PaulMBanks described the sign as heartless and total idiocy to openly convey [an] amoral position, suggesting the sign has to be astroturfing. In that context, astroturfing is concealing the origin of an effort or movement make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participants; efforts to satirize the protests (which were themselves astroturfed ) seemed more likely. Mentions of the sign were frequent on social platforms, and reactions ranged from anger to dismay: A hundred bucks says that the guy in Nashville with the Sacrifice the Weak sign is also an ardent opponent of abortion. — Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) April 22, 2020 this is what we’ve become a world willing to sacrifice the weak in the womb, on the streets, in our jails, those who are suffering, those who are elderly Lord, have mercy on us all pic.twitter.com/QLVfWH7DMB — tommy (@theghissilent) April 22, 2020 The Kansas City Star reported sightings of the sign and ones like it: ‘Sacrifice the weak’ and ‘Give me liberty’: Signs at coronavirus protests across US https://t.co/mh3uadcTqK — The Kansas City Star (@KCStar) April 22, 2020 Although some readers and viewers were skeptical that the sacrifice the weak sign was real, an April 20 2020 WZTV Nashville article featured video of the same masked protester holding the widely-shared sign: Although users suspected the sacrifice the weak ... re-open TN sign was satirical, photoshopped, or astroturfing, the sign itself was genuine and unaltered. Images of the sign appeared in an April 20 2020 Nashville-area news organization’s video and reporting of a protest against lockdowns used as an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus strain COVID-19. It is possible that the sign was intended as satire, but it is also implausible that anyone not in favor of ending the lockdowns would risk exposing themselves to COVID-19 simply to make a political joke. Posted in Fact Checks , Viral Content Tagged anti lockdown protests , astroturfing , coronavirus , coronavirus economy , coronavirus memes , covid protest signs , covid-19 disinformation , covid-19 protests , inauthentic behavior , sacrifice the weak covid-19 , sacrifice the weak reopen tn , viral facebook posts , viral tweets
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