A loaded-rifle attack on a pizzeria was triggered by viral Pizzagate articles
Evidence
Nearly four years earlier, in the run-up to the 2016 US presidential election, Edgar Maddison Welch, a twenty-eight-year-old father of two from North Carolina, walked into the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington DC carrying a loaded semi-automatic assault rifle. He was under the impression that presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was hiding young children in the basement there as part of a secret child-sex-trafficking ring. Like Whitty, Welch had developed genuine concerns (in his case, about the possible abuse of children, the so-called ‘Pizzagate’ scandal) after reading dozens of fake news articles which had been shared widely online by celebrities and politicians. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 5
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Pizzagate reached 1.4 million shares in five weeks before sparking armed action. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 224; The 1980s Satanic Panic resembled Pizzagate as a paranoid revival — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 276; Pizzagate conspiracy theories inspired an armed real-world raid on a pizzeria. — W. David Marx, Blank Space: A Cultural History of the…, 450 (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Pizzagate conspiracy theories inspired an armed real-world raid on a pizzeria.
#corroborates(1.00) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 450 - Fringe conspiracy tales turn dangerous when individuals act violently on them
#exemplifies(0.95) — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 62