Washingtonpost.com:
A North Carolina man was arrested Sunday after he walked into a popular pizza restaurant in Northwest Washington carrying an assault rifle and fired one or more shots, D.C. police said. The man told police he had come to the restaurant to “self-investigate” a false election-related conspiracy theory involving Hillary Clinton that spread online during her presidential campaign.
The incident caused panic, with several businesses going into lockdown as police swarmed the neighborhood after receiving the call shortly before 3 p.m.
Police said 28-year-old Edgar Maddison Welch, of Salisbury, N.C., walked in the front door of Comet Ping Pong and pointed a firearm in the direction of a restaurant employee. The employee was able to flee and notify police. Police said Welch proceeded to discharge the rifle inside the restaurant; they believe all other occupants had fled when Welch began shooting.
Welch has been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon. Police said there were no reported injuries.
We should not be surprised when more and more people start taking the law into their own hands. I expect by now there is a conspiracy theory about what happened today.
This situation is another reason why the president- elect needs to put down his twitter account and stop tweeting.
The Washington Post further added:
The restaurant’s owner and employees were threatened on social media in the days before the election after fake news stories circulated claiming that then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her campaign chief were running a child sex ring from the restaurant’s backrooms. Even Michael Flynn, a retired general whom President-elect Trump has tapped to advise him on national security, shared stories about another anti-Clinton conspiracy theory involving pedophilia. None of them were true. But the fake stories and threats persisted, some even aimed at children of Comet Ping Pong employees and patrons. The restaurant’s owner was forced to contact the FBI, local police, Facebook and other social-media platforms in an effort to remove the articles.
Last month, citing its policy against posting the personal information of others, Reddit banned the “pizzagate” topic.
But it didn’t stop the harassment, and nearby businesses have received threats as well, according to police. On Sunday, Washington Post reporters involved in this article were the target of online threats shortly after it posted.
Matt Carr, the owner of the Little Red Fox market and coffee shop, said his business started getting threats last weekend. They got 30 to 40 calls before they stopped answering calls from blocked numbers, he said. “One person said he wanted to line us up in front of a firing squad,” said Carr, who spent more than an hour in lockdown with his employees Sunday.
At what point is Trump going to stop playing to his base? This conspiracy stuff is serious. Why would anyone think that Hillary Clinton was involved in child pornography? Is Trump feeding this garbage to ignorant people? Where does this stuff come from?
I continue to fear for our nation.
Thank goodness more than 2.5 million people decided not to normalize this kind of behavior. They voted for Hillary.
This is so much bigger than Trump. It’s true that he’s feeding the confused minds of those that want to believe these false reports (it’s easier to find reports that confirms your beliefs, than look for those that counter your mindset), but it falls on all of us that do the same thing, regardless of standing or followers.
Excellent point, Joe. Thank you.
The way most reasonable, well-intentioned people participate in fake news is not in the creation or deliberate circulation (“sins of commission”) but in failing to do small things (“sins of omission”).
Probably #1: failing to point out fake news when it advantages someone/some cause we like or favor (Sanders supporters have a lot to complain about here with Hillary supporters and MSM; certainly PEOTUS’s team made a meal of it and more).
#2: hygiene in what we repeat, forward, or leave up as a link. I see a lot of this, even if a correction is posted, its lost because the correction covers one path of many to the content.
#3, and the closest to actively fobbing off fake news is the fake framing. Take a true story and frame it (even just with a suggestion). TBH, this is so commonplace across all levels (local blogs make an artform of this, in the same way graffiti is an art) that it may be the most pernicious.
There are very few (any?) venues that sustain honest discussion over time. 1, 2, 3 above poison them, IMHO.
North, you also make some excellent points. I think we have to look at malice and intent. Some fake news is worse than other fake news.
I think your most salient point is that when we see fake news, we are more prone to ignore it if it supports our world view. I know I am guilty. Would that be considered passive dissemination?
@MoonHowler
Moon – It’s a tough position, but yes, I think it is (and I’m not perfect here, so I’ll join you in the penalty box). There’s a prudential issue, ie, one can’t go around cleaning up everything, but in forums where you’re participating, letting things slide is tacit approval.
It’s linked to laying out reasons for things in general. As an “issue-person” with a pragmatic streak, I’m never going to support one side or oppose another side just because. So I like to make my rationale understood, and when someone who is often opposed does something right, or when someone who is often an ally does something wrong, I can say that without it being inconsistent or somehow “breaking ranks.”
I also hold out some vain hope that cosmopolitanism and decency can prevail against the tribalist direction things are headed.
I try to act on principle rather than on ‘side.’ I also hate it when I am fair.
I don’t know what is going to happen. How scary.
And yet more than 75% of ‘Clinton supporters’ get their news from Comedy Central according to a post here a while ago:
https://www.moonhowlings.net/index.php/2016/07/12/preferred-media-and-presidential-picks/
You obviously are trying to make a point. I am not sure what it is.
In its hay-day, I would pit Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert against the best. Both refused to cut any slack to jerks, regardless of political persuasion.
Some folks are just like a bad penny. I’ll be watching you for troll like behavior rather than trying to engage in manful dialogue.
“Falsehood will fly, as it were, on the wings of the wind, and carry its tales to every corner of the earth; whilst truth lags behind; her steps, though sure, are slow and solemn, and she has neither vigour nor activity enough to pursue and overtake her enemy…”
-Thomas Francklin 1787-
This is a byproduct of the “democratizing” of the means for dissemination of information. Who can forget with the advent of email, receiving those hoaxes forwarded to their inbox. Hoaxes and fake news have always existed, some of them downright wacky. The National Inquirer and other “Shocking News” rags that graced our check-out lines, the celebrity gossip mags, and “Coast to Coast AM” have given way to twitter, facebook, instagram, youtube, etc.
But it’s not just them. It’s the corporate news networks as well. In their rush to be first with “breaking news” getting the facts is secondary to getting the scoop. Take the latest act of Islamic terror that occurred at OSU. I happened to be somewhere and saw the “Breaking: Active Shooter on OSU campus….shelter in place order issued” scroll at the bottom of the screen. Shannon Watts of Demanding Moms, and our own Senator Tim Kaine had to issue tweets condemning “another act of senseless gun-violence”…. News agencies claimed they were “monitoring social media feeds” to discern the situation in “real time”. Really?
Except the perpetrator didn’t have a gun. He used a car and a butcher knife. The only gun involved was wielded by a uniformed campus police officer…who shot the attacker and stopped him from harming others. That’s a pretty sensible use of a gun, if you ask me.
Were retractions issued, or apologies made for getting it wrong? Nope. People who get the bulk of their information from social media will continue to believe that the bad guy used a gun.
We can go on and on, lamenting the state of “The News”…without realizing it’s always been this way. The only difference is now lies travel at viral speeds.
Steve, I think all too often guns get dragged onto a crime scene. Some of it is because of the lawsuits that have ensued for not giving enough early warning. (i.e. Tech) Guns also have the distinction of being an instant kill.
However, that isn’t really what this post is about. Its about the deliberate spreading of lies to people who tend to get worked up. I will never forget that woman, when speaking to Candidate McCain, who said Obama was a bad Muslim or something to that effect. McCain did the courageous thing and instantly corrected her, firmly but gently. Would Candidate Trump have done what McCain did? He has proved countless times during the campaign that he would not. He lacks the courage and mettle that McCain possesses.
Then there are the likes of Mike Flynn’s son. He serves as his father’s chief of staff so to me, they are indistinguishable. Conspiracy theories abound without proof. Those are the lies that cause us trouble.
@MoonHowler
I can’t and won’t defend General Flynn’s son’s comments. Seem pretty wacky to me.
My point in bringing up OSU wasn’t to make this a discussion about guns. It was to illustrate that even the MSM often has issues with truth, and then the inaccuracies are repeated by individuals using social media.
I have said this throughout the last year: Regardless of who won this presidential election, I felt that we’re still screwed as a country. I still feel that way. The divide is so huge amongst the “groups” in this country, the demonizing of those “on the other side” so ingrained, many are prepared to believe the worst stories regarding them…and we’re all susceptible to this on some level.
Remember…Dick Cheney had the levees dynamited to flood the 9th Ward in New Orleans, because he doesn’t like black people.
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/katrina_levee.htm
Or…Ronald Reagan deliberately kept news of the growing AIDS epidemic a secret, so gay men would become infected and died…and those infected by blood transfusions were acceptable collateral damage.
Like I said…this is nothing new.
That’s no excuse. Would you try to explain away concentration camps because they’ve been done before? That’s the extreme consequence made possible by such rationalization.
I’m reminded of a poem by Yeats I read at the University: “the best lack all conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
@Steve Thomas
The fake news and the spreading of fake news started with negative campaigning. In negative campaigning you attack your opponent. My opponent has a big nose. Or my opponent supports dumping toxic waste near playgrounds. From there the accusations were embellished to some extent and quotes were taken out of context to smear an opponent.
Then along came Hannity followed closely by Beck and others who talk up a real issue. Like the Benghazi incident. Just exaggerating the claims. Even making false accusations, but it is connected to an actual event so at least it seems real. The talk show hosts had their followers believing that Obama was a socialist born in Kenya who wanted to destroy America, take our guns and invade Texas. It just kept growing. I believe that somewhere in here a line was crossed, but others may disagree.
But this last election cycle it took a deeper turn where things were just made up. Hillary wants to abolish the 2nd amendment. Huma is a Saudi spy. Obama made a statement encouraging illegal aliens to vote. HRC has murdered x number of people. The pizzagate story. Just making up stories and spreading stories that are false. They’re so far over the line that the line appears to be a dot to them.
They actually had me going for a moment. Yeah. Me! I read somewhere (I don’t remember where) the story about the murder/suicide involving an FBI agent who was investigating HRC’s emails. I read the headline, but it wasn’t a news source I recognized so I googled it. It didn’t turn up any results. I figured maybe it’s breaking news and hadn’t made the headlines just yet. But it didn’t take long for me to figure out that it was a completely fabricated story all protected by the first amendment.
Don’t people use snopes.com any more?
I have a couple of acquaintances who sent out anti Hillary and anti Obama stuff all the time. I told them to educate themselves and not to send me their crap. On Facebook I just perform Facebook-genocide. Gone. Lots of unfriending done this past year.