LESSWRONG
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All of ChirpingSubagent's Comments + Replies

Thread for Sense-Making on Recent Murders and How to Sanely Respond
ChirpingSubagent175

Let's list some mysteries in this case! Here are 3 of mine.

  1. Why did 2 killings happen within the span of one week?
  2. How did so many people get radicalized i.e. going from being essentially nerds to people seemingly willing to commit pre-meditated murder?
  3. What happened with Zajko and LaSota between Zajko writing about LaSota threatening to murder Zajko, and then Zajko's parent’s killings (which she is a suspect for)?
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2Tonal Spring
Who is the other person who was living with Ophelia & Milo in North Carolina?
lc*120

Why did 2 killings happen within the span of one week?

According to law enforcement the two people involved in the shootout received weapons and munitions from Jamie Zajko, and one of them also applied for a marriage certificate with the person who killed Curtis Lind. Additionally I think it's also safe to say from all of their preparations that they were preparing to commit violent acts.

So my best guess is that:

  • Teresa Youngblut and/or Felix Bauckholt were co-conspirators with the other people committing violent crimes
  • They were preparing to commit fur
... (read more)
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Thread for Sense-Making on Recent Murders and How to Sanely Respond
ChirpingSubagent180

There are a lot of journalists and documentarians who are inquiring about this, wanting to write articles and make documentaries. 

What are people's heuristics for how to speak well with journalists and to choose whether and which journalists to talk with? Here are two that I've heard:

  1. Small-town journalists tend to be much less politicized than those who write for a national outlet.
  2. It's good to always be "off the record" when speaking, and then say you're happy to provide written quotes on-the-record via email afterward. This means you can (a) be deliberate in your wording, and (b) have proof if they misquote you!
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0frontier64
The majority of journalists are in the top 5% most evil people in the whole world. If you care about getting the truth out about something do not talk to journalists at all unless: 1) it's being recorded by both you and them; and 2) you have the ability to get your recording in front of the public. Most journalists will literally just lie about what you say to them to the public in order to make their story. I am in a position where journalists often try to ask for comments and my policy is never talk to them. The few times I have made the mistake of giving them a couple comments they have literally lied about what I said to them in their subsequent article. I guess if the story you're trying to tell is interesting and aligns with the journalist's worldview there's a chance they won't deliberately misquote you. But if its something important then you shouldn't run that risk.
8ChristianKl
Before talking to a journalist, read articles by the journalist to get an idea about the kind of narrative they are likely to write. 
Cellar__Door2515

I'd be careful about talking to journalists at all, and default to not doing it. People writing about these murders have an incentive to make the Bay Area rationalist community sound bizarre, depraved, or salacious, and I'm sure some of them won't hesitate. Like the cops, journalists know how to make you feel like they're your best opportunity to get justice, and some will use that to get you to let down your guard. "Off the record" is not a legally binding agreement, and even if they don't attribute your quote, they can still twist it to make it sound lik... (read more)

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