React accordingly
I went on a date with a Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist once, though he certainly didn't disclose as much in his profile. He did mention having retired from the military as well as having two kids and an ex-wife he admitted he'd married too young. He was by all accounts an average American male, and for this reason I thought we could go three hours without discussing politics.
The conversation didn't start out there, of course. We met up at one of those local-chain breakfast joints that receives glowing reviews online but leaves most foodies aghast. I had just received my orange juice when the conversation moved from his enthusiasm for Rick and Morty. This was shortly after McDonald’s Szechuan sauce fiasco, and he was “surprised” that I, a “geeky girl,” hadn't binge watched the show following the stir-up. From there he made some broad strokes generalizations about how members of the military feel about the election of 45, and then fell headlong into discussion of false flags—specifically, Sandy Hook.
He had a lot of “facts” that sounded like talking points, I'll give him that, though most of the information was clearly gleaned from James Tracy, a (now former) associate professor from Florida Atlantic University that became the default source of a Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist.
"What about the parents of those kids?" I asked. "And the teachers?"
"Not real," he told me. "They're actors."
"ACTORS?!" I was incredulous. At this point that he introduced me to a concept I'd never heard of before: crisis actors. A bit of googling when I got home led me down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories; the sheer volume of internet persons asserting this was a laughably see-through operation of (the government?? a third-party with horrific interests? this was never made clear) to manipulate the masses with “fake” dead children made me wonder about Mr. One Date’s approach to parenting.
I didn’t give the conversation a second thought until an aide to Florida Representative Shawn Harrison stated the two Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students seen on CNN were crisis actors. Why that led me to 3+ weeks of research on gun policy, I’m not quite sure.
The final product was ready too late in the news cycle to successfully pitch anyone – and at ~4500 words, it would’ve proved too long for most of them anyway.
I posted Sensible Gun Control: Between Semantics & Non-Starter “Solutions” on Medium and in short order received two comments, both of which confirmed what I already knew: avid gun enthusiasts will disregard even the most even-handed arguments over semantics, and that men will never shy away from the opportunity to “explain” things to me.