SYRIA CIVIL DEFENCE is a volunteer corps of 3,300 first responders, fighting a losing battle in a devastated nation. Youve likely seen its membersknown as White Helmetsin photos on social media, carrying dusty, injured children out of bombsites. Theyve saved nearly 100,000 Syrians who otherwise would have been fatalities of the countrys ongoing civil war. They were nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize last year.
And simply by listing those facts, this story has become fake news.
While the White Helmets might seem like the poster children for feel-bad humanitarianism, theyve in fact become the target of a internet smear campaign, one designed to bolster the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and undermine its opponents, including the United States. Various White Helmet trutherswho range from Assad and his supporters to Russian embassies, and even to Alex Jonesaccuse the group of staging rescue photos, belonging to al Qaeda, and being pawns of liberal bogeyman George Soros. The story of how that conspiracy grew is a perfect distillation of how disinformation can spread unchecked, supplanting fact with frenzy where no support exists.
