Conspirators and far-right extremists are blaming almost everything and everyone for the bridge collapse in Baltimore Tuesday morning.
A non-exhaustive list of things blamed for the bridge collapse on Telegram and aliens, Sri Lanka, the World Economic Forum, the United Nations, Wokeness, Ukraine, foreign aid, the CIA, the Jewish people, Israel, Russia, China, Iran, Covid vaccines, DEI, immigrants, black people and lockdowns.
The Francis Scott Key truss bridge actually collapsed when the freighter MV Dali collided with one of the bridge supports. Six construction workers, who were closing holes in the bridge at the time, are believed to have been killed. The ship is owned by Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd, and the 22-member crew were all Indian. The ship was en route to Colombo, Sri Lanka at the time of the accident.
This didn’t stop people from “asking questions” about the incident, a common conspiracy response to major events. And while conspiracy theorists find it difficult to pinpoint exactly which conspiracy caused the collapse, the one thing they agree on is that this incident is a “black swan event.”
The term “black swan event” has been around for decades and is used to describe a major global event (usually in the financial markets) that can cause significant damage to a country’s economy. But in recent years the term has been adopted by conspiracy theorists to explain an event caused by the so-called deep state that would signal an impending revolution, a third world war, or some other apocalyptic catastrophe.
One of the first people to call the bridge collapse a “black swan event” was disgraced former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. “This is a BLACK SWAN event,” he wrote on X. “Black swans normally come from the financial world (not the military). For each of these transit points in America, there are harbor masters in charge. of ensuring the safety of navigation…start there.” Flynn’s post has been viewed 7.2 million times.
Misogynistic influencer Andrew Tate, who has been accused of rape and human trafficking in Romania, also posted on X early Tuesday morning, writing: “Nothing is safe. The Black Swan event is just around the corner.” The post has been viewed almost 19 million times.
The term “black swan” quickly began to gain popularity on
One report claims a connection between the bridge collapse and the film Leaving the world behind, has been viewed more than 1.2 million times. The post claimed that because the ship was headed to Sri Lanka, which has a lion on its flag, the situation was related to the ship sailing around at the beginning of the film called ‘White Lion’. The report also points out that the film was produced by Obama.