SHOOTER TURNS FAKE NEWS INTO DANGER AT D. C. PIZZA SHOP
WASHINGTON— Fake news is not funny. The notion that a bogus conspiracy theory should be considered true unless proven false is nuts. On Sunday, fake news lies turned into real danger.
Really, what happened Sunday a few blocks from my house— well, you can’t make this stuff up.
This story starts with a salacious false anti- Hillary Clinton conspiracy theory nicknamed “Pizzagate”— latched onto and spread by Donald Trump backers— which dragged in Comet Ping Pong, an informal storefront pizza joint in my Northwest D. C. neighborhood.
On Sunday, it led with a man firing shots inside Comet, as people were eating and playing pingpong. One of the Comet employees was able to flee and call the cops.
D. C. police arrested a North Carolina man with an assault rifle and said in a statement, “During a post arrest interview this evening, the suspect revealed that he came to the establishment to self- investigate “Pizzagate.”
The “self- investigator” is Edgar MaddisonWelch, 28, of Salisbury, North Carolina. He was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon. Police recovered two more firearms inside Comet and one more weapon inWelch’s car.
AfterWelch’s arrest on Sunday night, Michael Flynn Jr., the son of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn — whom Trump picked to be his national security adviser and vice chair of his transition team — said in a fact- free Twitter post that Pizzagate might be true: ‘ Until # Pizzagate proven to be false, it’ll remain a story. The left seems to forget # PodestaEmails and the many ‘ coincidences’ tied to it.”
The elder Flynn— who I want to emphasize will have a top position in the TrumpWhite House— has championed untrue conspiracies about Clinton on his Twitter feed: “U decide— NYPD Blows Whistle on New Hillary Emails: Money Laundering, Sex Crimes w Children, etc… MUST READ!”
The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year for 2016 is post- truth, “an adjective defined as ‘ relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”
Enter Pizzagate as we lurch forward in this post- truth era when the president- elect himself is a conspiracy theorist, laying the groundwork for his White House run embracing the birther falsehood that President Barack Obama was not born in the U. S.
In a BuzzFeed story headlined “How The Bizarre Conspiracy Theory Behind ‘ Pizzagate’Was Spread,” BuzzFeed editor Craig Silverman details how Pizzagate swelled on fringe websites with untrue “claims that Democratic operatives placing orders at Comet Ping Pong were actually using code to talk about underage prostitutes.”
Silverman writes, “this strange and convoluted conspiracy theory, which also involves allegations of occult rituals, has its origins in false accusations about the Clintons that began spreading in late October. The original theory claimed that the Clintons and other government figures were involved in a global human trafficking and pedophilia ring.”
On Sunday, Comet owner James Alefantis stood outside of his restaurant to condemn fake news and what could have been a horrible outcome.
“Let me state unequivocally: These stories are completely and entirely false. What happened today demonstrates that promoting false and reckless conspiracy theories do come with consequences,” he said.
“And I hope that those that are involved in fanning these flames will take a moment to contemplate what happened here today and to stop right away.”
The Trump era is also ushering in worries about the rise of racism and anti- Semitism.
Near the end of last month, a group called the National Policy Institute booked a room at another restaurant— up the street from my place— and celebrated Trump’s victory with “Hail Trump” one- arm salutes.
Recently, Vice President- elect Mike Pence and his family rented a home not all that far from Comet, where they will live until they move into the official vice presidential residence after the Jan. 20 inauguration.
All this is happening a stroll from my front door.
Welcome to the neighborhood, Gov. Pence. How about stopping by Comet for some pizza and pingpong?
“LET ME STATE UNEQUIVOCALLY: THESE STORIES ARE COMPLETELY AND ENTIRELY FALSE. WHAT HAPPENED TODAY DEMONSTRATES THAT PROMOTING FALSE AND RECKLESS CONSPIRACY THEORIES DO COME WITH CONSEQUENCES.” JAMES ALEFANTIS, Comet owner