Cliven Bundy On Oregon Standoff: We Aren’t Asking For Food — But Send It Here

A lot of mockery has been made regarding two sons of Cliven Bundy and their Oregon standoff. The group who took over a federal building last week likely expected their armed protest and occupation to be taken more seriously. However, the most widespread response has been mockery

On social media, the public made up nicknames for the Bundy brothers and their occupying friends — names combining southern stereotypes with names associated with terrorist groups — such names as “Y’allQaeda,” which grew to larger notoriety with the publication of a Facebook group dedicated to the mockery of the Bundy militia for allegedly failing to bring sufficient food and supplies to last through their occupation.

According to Oregon Live, despite declarations that they were prepared for the long haul, the Oregon occupiers were, in a rather short time, requesting snacks and cold weather gear.

This has been seized upon by social media as the chief point of humor in the entire debacle, and a number of memes (warning: not all are safe for work and some may be offensive to some viewers) have circulated mocking a militia that fails to bring snacks to a confrontation.

For a few days at the height of the coverage — and the mockery — the Bundy Ranch Facebook page overflowed with these memes, jokes, and general troll activity, virtually drowning out the posts from supporters.

The Bundy Ranch page issued a few statements about those who were posting on the page but not supportive of the standoff in Oregon:

On Friday, Bundy went as far as to declare that the page would cease posting. That announcement was later deleted, though his Twitter account still mentions it and screenshots have been preserved and shared by other users of social media.

As of Saturday afternoon, the Bundy Ranch page has been cleared of almost every comment or post that was not supportive of the Oregon standoff, however. It has also returned to regular updates, and apparently has sufficient moderation now to keep non-supportive posts under control.

Still, Cliven Bundy’s latest statement on the whole matter seems designed to forestall a recurrence — even as he addresses would-be donors to the folks still taking part in the standoff, he insists that there are no requests being made for any donations.

On his Bundy Ranch website, he issued this statement.

“We have had many people ask where they can donate and/or send food and supplies for the Patriots in Oregon.”

However, before going on to list addresses (both for supplies and monetary gifts), Bundy presents this clarification:

“*We are not asking for donations we are just giving the info to those of you that have been asking.”

A few notable points here: Bundy’s militia initially told reporters they had enough supplies to carry on their standoff in the small Oregon building for years, according to OregonLive.

However, it was only two days later that posts began to appear, asking for donations. In one such request, one of the standoff members, Jon Ritzheimer, asked for snacks and supplies, but insisted that this isn’t about money.

However, in the latest Bundy Ranch posting, two separate addresses are given — one in Oregon, near where the standoff is actually taking place, and a second in Idaho, for financial donations only.

Amidst these conflicting statements, though, stands Bundy’s emphasis that the Oregon standoff members are not looking for donations (despite social media posts requesting them) — but are more than willing to provide multiple addresses where the Federal government’s Postal Service can deliver them, just the same.

[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]