Unearthed FEMA program to distribute blue tarps after disasters has space lasers crowd convinced they’re right about Maui fires
Conspiracy theorists are pushing for people to paint their roofs blue over the belief that it will protect them from fire-starting lasers.
The belief finds its roots in comments from Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) in 2018 in which she blamed wildfires in California on an imaginary laser weapon created by Jews. Since then, conspiracy theorists have repeatedly blamed lasers from outer space for causing wildfires.
The destructive fires in Hawaii are no different. Shortly after the disaster began, conspiratorial users across social media started sharing footage of what they claimed were lasers striking the Hawaiian islands.
In one example, a QAnon promoter on X posted a photo of what they suggested was a laser beam striking Maui. In reality, the image was taken in 2019 during a SpaceX launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The content was just one of countless images and videos that conspiracy theorists falsely claimed was evidence of an attack by a "directed energy weapon." Despite being repeatedly debunked, the nonsensical belief has only expanded.
But conspiracy theorists are now claiming that any items that are colored blue are actually immune to laser attacks by highlighting cherry-picked images of items such as a blue car, blue beach umbrellas, and blue T-shirts that received little to no fire damage.
The belief has been discredited given that countless other pictures and videos show blue items being destroyed while items of other colors survived. The claim that a laser powerful enough to burn buildings would someone be impervious to destroying a specific color is also nonsensical.
But the outlandish claims exploded further after conspiracy theorists discovered a long-running program from FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers known as "Operation Blue Roof." The program was announced in 2018 and intended to provide free-of-charge "a temporary covering of blue plastic sheeting to help reduce further damage to property until permanent repairs can be made," according to FEMA.
Conspiracy theorists immediately suggested that the public program was actually part of a covert plan to protect the homes of those favored by the government elite from space lasers.
Claims also began circulating that prominent celebrities with homes on Hawaii such as Oprah Winfrey had blue roofs themselves, suggesting that she and others were aware of the impending attack.
The conspiracy theory also ties into the belief that Hawaii was personally burned to allow left-leaning celebrities to buy up all the land on the island.
Conspiracy theorists cited as proof a screenshot of a purported news article showing Winfrey next to a home with a blue roof. But the article wasn't real. And, as discovered by PolitiFact, the house featured in the article doesn' belong to Winfrey.
Still, undeterred by all their claims falling apart, conspiracy theorists have begun urging people to paint their own roofs blue due to the belief that it will protect them from future laser attacks.
@keeping_it_real23 I might need to get a blue roof on my house! #fyp #foryou #directenergyweapons #laser #blue #blueroof #maui #hawaii #mauiattack #destruction #trending #viral #keepinitreal23 ♬ original sound - Keepin_it_Real23
@aerieldakotarae 💙I🟦Y🔷️K🔵Y💠K🌀 #thatssuspicious #thatssus #blue #blueroof #maui #iykyk #tinfoil ♬ Blue (Da Ba Dee) (Gabry Ponte Ice Pop Radio) - Eiffel 65
One man allegedly from Hawaii who had his blue roof featured in videos by conspiracy theorists pointed out that he actually lives in Louisiana. The user, known as HEYErock, noted that he had placed a blue tarp on his roof more than two years ago after it was damaged during a hurricane.
But the blue roof claim is already causing strife among conspiracy theorists, who now believe that the color will change due to the secret being exposed. While they have yet to settle on a new color, conspiracy theorists believe that the government will soon alter its lasers to attack blue homes to keep the public from protecting themselves.
None of the claims regarding blue roofs and blue lasers are true. The Hawaiian Electric Company recently admitted that the first wildfire was caused by one of its power lines. Conspiracy theorists will undoubtedly continue to make preposterous claims following major weather events in the coming months and years.
Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online.
The post Unearthed FEMA program to distribute blue tarps after disasters has space lasers crowd convinced they’re right about Maui fires appeared first on The Daily Dot.