My wife is from Springfield, OH (graduated from the old Springfield South HS) and she has lots of family there. We checked in with them this week to ask about all the nonsense, and it was interesting to hear their reactions.
It was a mix of befuddled laughter and joking, and anger at their town being the focus of racist propaganda. The memes they've been sharing with us are really funny, but it's also sad that they have to go through all this.
The recent history of Springfield is important to know too. They'd lost a ton of people over the years, and after the housing crash/recession of 2008 there were empty, boarded up houses everywhere. Recently there was even a labor shortage, with employers practically begging for workers.
Those are some of the reasons the immigrants from Haiti came to Springfield. There were lots of jobs and very cheap houses, plus there was a Haitian-American run charity that could help people as they arrived.
Unfortunately, the recent chaos in Haiti led to a surge of migrants from there, with many of them going to Springfield since there already was a number of Haitians there. But the city was not prepared for the surge, and the federal government has been slow providing resources and assistance.
That's the problem facing Springfield today. It's not Haitians eating pets or any of that crap, it's that the city needs money to help take care of the new migrants who've recently come to their town.