Week 13 - Better Crap Detection

My photo of Connecticut Ave Sunday night

We need better crap detection now. On Sunday afternoon, I walked to Little Red Fox, my favorite DC cafe, to get a sandwich. It's a weekend ritual for me. About thirty minutes after I left the place, police had the block barricaded and patrons in all the nearby restaurants were on lockdown. A nut with an assault rifle was threatening diners at Comet Ping Pong, a pizza place right next door to my lunch cafe. Today I found out that this incident, one I very nearly was a part of, made the New York Times:

In Washington Pizzeria Attack, Fake News Brought Real Guns

To me this is yet more evidence that we desperately need better "crap detection". This isn't something that has implications some day down the road. This is relevant right now. People with misguided ideas about how the world works, motivated by completely fictional news, are taking to the streets to act, sometimes aggressively in response to what they read. The worlds of online and offline are blurring, and those without adequate "crap detectors" can't tell the difference.

We'll learn more about this story as it develops, but it is clear now that the man involved in this incident drove six hours to investigate something that he thought was true. As more details emerge, we'll learn something about the state of this man's mental health. What's perfectly likely, though, is that this individual is not mentally impaired, just falsely informed. If fake news stories can motivate people to drive 360 miles and bring an assault weapon into a pizza shop, who knows what else is coming.

I think this should signal to us that our work is more important than ever. We have to get started helping students to become adults who can tell the difference between what's real and what's not. Lives are at stake.