"The posts promoted numerous conspiracy theories — asserting the fires were primarily caused by arson..."
Well, according to our own government, more than 2/3 of wildfires ARE started by humans, but not necessarily arson. We are a sloppy lot, and untended campfires, thrown cigarette butts, even sparks from train wheels, and downed power lines are all culprits. But it IS mostly humans, not mother nature doing the most damage.
Ive been on it for over 15 years now and in most ways its gotten worse. For one thing there are FAR more bots that are posting and commenting. Quite a few times Im sure replies have been from bots looking for more "engagement" as thats reddits bread and butter. The ads are getting more prolific, with some "hey what do you guys think about x product" becoming more common. The moderation in some areas has gone a bit bananas. I used Redact to erase my comments in all forums and got permabanned in one for doing so because Redact posts a self link. No warning, just a ban. The only thing thats improved is that a lot of trolling a-holes have also been banned so there are less outright vitriol than there used to be. And some of the worst subs are gone. But its not going in a good direction overall.
The attorney general firing her ethics advisor just as the most damning stories about Epstein and Trump emerge (again). What could possibly go wrong?
Conservative religious groups, and Mennonites are part of that, already have a strong distrust of government. They were targeted, ridiculed and ostracized when the covid vaccines came out and that did nothing to reassure them that the gov is looking out for their best interest, so this latest outbreak isn't going to make them suddenly swing toward being pro vaccines. If anything they're going to pull back even more which is why we have such a huge measles outbreak. Its not going to change easily as the mistrust runs deep.
And its no wonder - there were Amish people (a related group) who were charged for not getting a covid vaccine passport and had to go to court to argue that their faith doesnt allow them to use that kind of technology. They DID win their case and the charges were dropped but once again the distrust in gov grows.
ps. Just a correction but the Mennonites actually came from Europe, followers of Menno Simons who who was a former Catholic priest who was excommunicated for his reformational ideas. We settled in Mexico, the US and Canada after running from persecution so this mistrust in gov is a deeply held part of culture. Some Mennos are still quite conservative, others are quite liberal and you couldn't tell them from any other Canadian.