Fact check: Ex-Marine didn't set anti-fascist activist's car on fire; photo is from meme
Claim: Photo depicts man who burned the car of an antifa member
A viral Facebook post claims an ex-Marine took matters into his own hands after anti-fascist activists, also known as antifa, allegedly set fires.
“Carl doesn’t like the way ANTIFA likes to catch things on fire, so Carl followed one of them back to their parents house and burned their s***. This is Carl. Carl is a Marine. Marines don’t give a s***.
Commenters on the post, which has been shared 1,600 times, were unsure of the post's veracity, some claiming it’s satirical, while others supported the alleged actions taken by the purported Marine.
“I'm guessing this is fake, but it's still funny,” one commenter wrote.
“LOL MARINE IS FIGHTING BACK GOOD FOR HIM WISH EVERYONE WOULD DO THE SAME THAT WILL TEACH THEM TO BURN OUR THINGS DOWN,” another wrote.
The Facebook user that made the post did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.
Photo comes from 2013 meme
The photo in question has nothing to do with an ex-Marine named Carl retaliating against antifa; it’s circulated online since November 2013, more often than not in the form of a meme.
The picture is most often used as a backdrop for text about life going wrong. One version of the meme displays text over the man the post names Carl that says “Me, stoned listening to music,” while the text over the car reads “The frozen pizza I put in the oven 3 hours ago.”
A Google search of “old man burning car meme” produces a number of duplicate images.
Anti-fascist activists didn’t set California fires
As fires ravage the West Coast, misinformation has spread about what started them, and as the meme insinuates, anti-fascist activists are among the accused. USA TODAY previously fact-checked claims that antifa set fires in Oregon and Washington, finding them to be false.
State and federal officials, including the Oregon Department of Forestry, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and FBI Portland, have spoken out against the idea that the fires are the result of political or criminal activity.
More: Fact check: Oregon, Washington fires were not set by anti-fascist activists
“Reports that extremists are setting wildfires in Oregon are untrue,” FBI Portland tweeted Sept. 11.
One Oregon fire is under investigation for arson, but the town’s police chief told The Oregonian the rumor it was set by antifa is “100% false information.” Other fires were caused by downed power lines and weather conditions, USA TODAY reported.
“Antifa” is a moniker for anti-fascists, not a coordinated group, per the Washington Post.
Our rating: False
We rate the claim that this photo depicts an ex-Marine burning the car of an antifa member as FALSE because it was not supported by our research. The photo of the man is the backdrop of a meme that has been circulating the web since at least Nov. 2013. The insinuation that anti-fascist activists set fires on the West Coast is also false.
Our fact-check sources:
Reddit, 2019, Meme Templates Official
Google search, retrieved Sept. 16, "Old man burning car meme"
USA TODAY, Sept. 11, Fact check: Oregon, Washington fires were not set by anti-fascist activists
FBI Portland's Twitter, Sept. 11
The Oregonian, Sept. 10, Arson investigation underway where human remains found at Almeda fire in Ashland, chief says
Washington Post, June 15, What is antifa?
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Photo claiming ex-Marine set fire to car comes from meme
