Conspiracy Theories Abound Following Tragic Bridge Collapse in India
In the wake of the devastating collision between the MV Dali cargo ship and a bridge support in India on Tuesday morning, conspiracists and far-right extremists have been quick to point fingers and assign blame. The accident, which occurred while six construction workers were filling potholes on the bridge’s roadway, has left the workers presumed dead. The ship, owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd. based in Singapore, was manned by a crew of 22 Indian nationals and was headed to Colombo, Sri Lanka at the time of the incident.
Conspiracists Label Bridge Collapse a “Black Swan Event”
Despite the lack of evidence supporting any conspiracy theories, many have taken to “asking questions” about the incident, a common tactic employed by conspiracists in response to major events. While unable to agree on a specific conspiracy behind the collapse, they have unanimously labeled it a “black swan event.”
Traditionally, the term black swan event has been used in the financial world to describe a significant global event capable of causing substantial damage to a country’s economy. However, in recent years, conspiracy theorists have adopted the term to explain events allegedly orchestrated by the so-called deep state, which they believe could trigger a revolution, a third world war, or other apocalyptic scenarios.
High-Profile Figures Fuel Conspiracy Theories
Among the first to label the bridge collapse a black swan event was former US national security adviser Michael Flynn, who has faced controversy in the past. In a post on X that has garnered 7.2 million views, Flynn wrote:
This is a BLACK SWAN event. Black swans normally come out of the world of finance (not military) … There are harbor masters for every single one of these transit points in America that are in charge of assuring the safety of navigation … start there.
Another high-profile figure, Andrew Tate, a misogynist influencer facing charges of rape and human trafficking in Romania, also took to X early on Tuesday morning, stating:
Nothing is safe. Black Swan Event imminent.
Tate’s post has been viewed nearly 19 million times.
Conspiracists Draw Far-Fetched Connections
As the term black swan began trending on X, conspiracists, extremists, and right-wing lawmakers started proposing various explanations for the supposed trigger of this “black swan event.” One post, viewed more than 1.2 million times, claimed a link between the bridge collapse and the film Leave the World Behind. The post argued that because the ship was headed to Sri Lanka, which features a lion on its flag, the situation was connected to a ship called White Lion that appears at the beginning of the film. The post also highlighted the fact that the film was produced by Obama.
1 Comment
Oh, so now we’re all bridge engineers on the internet, huh