OSD 40: Whiskey Warrior wut
Things got a bit wild this Saturday night.
Instagrammer @whiskey_warrior_556 started broadcasting (via his IG story) a standoff he was having with local law enforcement in upstate New York. And that's about all we know for sure right now.
The live nature of the standoff turned everybody's perceived sense of urgency to DEFCON 1. A number of big social media accounts started sending the guy's address out on social media (at his request), to mobilize a boogaloo QRF. By some reports, a bunch of people did indeed turn up and were stopped at police roadblocks. Some reports have said that police used signal jammers to shut down those folks' cell connections.
And that confusion is just the beginning. It's not totally clear what the standoff was about. Some said the guy was red-flagged by a friend. Others said he was snitched on for having a 30-round mag (which is, absurdly, illegal to possess in New York state). Others said it was a domestic dispute. It seems to have ended peacefully, but it's still unclear what, if anything, the legal implications will be.
This didn't stop a lot of people from spreading information on social media with extreme confidence, stating rumors as fact. The idea is that when seconds count, you have to get the information out now and worry about inaccuracies later.
Here's the tough part about this: sometimes that's true! Urgency is a thing, and there are times when you indeed can't afford to wait a few hours for information to firm up.
Here's the other tough part: in the moment, you'll never know if urgency is warranted. You can't know, because often that depends on how the situation shakes out, which by definition you can't know before it has shaken out.
What we can do is use this as a learning experience. Not saying who did what right or wrong here, because we don't know. We need to learn more about what happened.
But let's always behave in a way that we can be proud of after the fact. In a way that doesn't just make us feel good, but that actually gets results. We have to measure ourselves by our results, not our intentions. Effectiveness means knowing when to move urgently, when to be patient, and building the skills to know the difference. That's something we have to practice every day, forever. Being committed to that process is what separates effective people from people who flail. So read up on this case, take it as a lesson (whatever that lesson may be), and use it to keep getting better. You can be sure we will.
Some background on this for anyone who wants to catch up on it:
One last note: one lesson we can already draw is that this demonstrates the incredible mobilizing power of social media. That's on net a good thing, and it works in our favor.
This week's links
What Would Stoner Do 2020
Always cool to see innovation from a new gun business spinning up. And it's incredibly cool to see it coming from InRange — Gun Jesus and Karl themselves. They're partnering with KE Arms to make a Gen 3 GWACS polymer lower, and they're going to be selling both the lower and complete WWSD rifles through Brownells. Innovation is the meta-how of spreading gun rights. This is powerful stuff.
Also, cool to see gun content creators finding new, bigger ways to monetize.
AvE is back with more gun content
One of the biggest mechanical engineering channels on YouTube is back with a second video about gun stuff. In this one he unboxes a 1981 crate of Czech 7.62x39mm, and in the process teaches you an insane amount about the minutiae of ammo chemistry.
Guns Guide to Liberals
New podcast that just launched this week, with Jon Hauptman and Sarah Cade. Good stuff, all about how to be effective when you talk about guns.
The Tactical Professor Claude Werner
Claude is a thoughtful writer, check out his blog. This short post is especially pithy. Key quote: "When we teach an adult, it’s always worth remembering to approach it that way. Even if we are a Subject Matter Authority, the person is one of our peers and deserves to be treated respectfully. They should be treated like a client in an Adult–Adult relationship, not a grade school student in a Parent–Child relationship."
Homicides with guns vs. suicide with guns: rates across all 50 states
Data deep-dive on /r/dataisbeautiful. Worth spending a bunch of time on the (very long and frequently thoughtful) comment thread.
Guy NDs an entire building
Treat all buildings as if they're wired to blow.
Never point your crew of demolition experts at a structure you do not intend to destroy.
Don't turn the "blow the building up" switch until you're ready to blow the building up.
Know your building and what is above it.