Ruth Ben-Ghiat: “Swatting increases in a declining democracy because it is what chaos agents do: it is the equivalent of the information warfare tactic of ‘flooding the zone with shit,’ to quote Steve Bannon. The goals are to debase the truth (is this a real emergency, or a fake one?), expose the swatter’s targets to psychological duress and possible physical harm; smear their reputations; and exhaust the resources of law enforcement officials, who are distracted from other operations and investigations.”
“The ultimate goal of swatting is to stress institutions, create uncertainty in ways that intersect with conspiracy theories (was there a shooting, or did Jack Smith’s allies in the “deep state” cover up his crime?) and lead people to feel that society is degenerating.”
