Via David Strom, now that is a take.
Well done, Disney. You've outdone yourself.
You might think that, based on that headline, it's the anti-Trans Pride people calling in the threats.
That's certainly what Disney News wants you to think!
But it's actually the trans extremists calling in the bomb threats -- and Disney News declares We must give in to terrorism, to keep the conservatives from scoring a win through the non-violent, non-coercive means of boycotting.
Reward the terrorists to beat the cons.
Perfect, Disney.
Perfect.
The headline seems to suggest that the extremists in question are anti-alphabet activists and that the "experts" are warning that giving in to their demands would simply encourage more extremist threats.
In fact, the article itself strongly implies that the threats are caused by anti-Pride activists, but even ABC has to acknowledge that threats in question are actually coming from Pride activists, not people who are objecting to the selling of alphabet-themed products such as swimsuits made for "tucking" to children.
It's an odd take: keep the Pride merchandise out, because the alternative is suffering from bomb threats from Pride activists.
Disney News contacted a wide-ranging field of "experts" who unanimously opined that we must give in to the demands of bomb-threatening trans extremists, otherwise we might... "embolden right-wing actors."
If we don't embolden left-wing terrorists, we might wind up emboldinging right-wing actors. And we can't have that!
Extremism experts and LGBTQ advocates warned that removing merchandise could be seen as a success by anti-LGBTQ extremists and violent protesters which could lead to copycat behavior threatening the already marginalized community.
In other words, right-wing people could, in the future, hypothetically, engage in "copycat behavior" of the actual, happening-right-now threatening terrorist activity of the left-wing people, which means we must perforce accede to the left-wing terrorism now.
Several Targets also received bomb threats over Memorial Day weekend related to the controversy, according to. The threats reportedly called for the return of LGBTQ+ items to the shelves, according to the local news outlet, which said it received the bomb threats.
"I think this will embolden alt-right actors, who now are going to believe that with social media campaigns and targeted actions against retailers that they can proceed in limiting visibility of LGBTQ people," said Sophie Bjork-James, a professor at Vanderbilt University, who researches the white nationalist movement, in an interview.
Non-Disney "news" sites similarly implied that these threats are coming from the anti-trans-ideology camp, instead of from the trans extremists themselves.
[H]eadlines started to circulate that bomb threats were being made against Target stores in places like New York, Vermont, Utah, and Oklahoma. For example, The Hill pushed out a story on Tuesday entitled "Target Stores in at Least Five States Receive Bomb Threats Over Pride Items." A day prior, The Washington Post ran the headline "Target Stores See More Bomb Threats Over Pride Merchandise." USA Today also used the same type of lede in its prior reporting.
If someone were to read those headlines without any prior information, what would they think? They would obviously think that right-wing activists were calling up Target stores to make bomb threats due to the retail chain's display of "pride" items. After all, it is the right that has moved to boycott Target.
But what's the real story?
Here's the excerpt from The Hill piece, written halfway through the article, with my emphasis added. The Washington Post's article includes the same disclaimer buried deep in their story.
South Burlington, Vt. police chief Shawn Burke said that news outlets in Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York all received the same email bomb threat over the weekend, which accused the retail chain of betraying the LGBTQ+ community, also naming the locations of four stores in the three states including South Burlington.