A couple things about this: here is the request for comment I sent to Mr. Joseph. He did not respond. https://twitter.com/fredtjoseph/status/1304051476466073601

I’m extremely sorry to hear he feels this piece was racist, inflected by my own whiteness or “gothness” or otherwise discriminatory. readers can look at it for themselves and decide. However, this wasn’t just an experience about a Black family being uncomfortable in an Airbnb.

He directly, specifically, without talking to the host claimed there were objects used for “satanic rituals” in the house and “ritualistic markings on the floor.” I spend a lot of time covering Qanon and Pizzagate crowds. I cover when these accusations go horribly wrong.

In most cases I’ll diligently seek comment and wait for as long as it takes to the subject to respond. But a lengthy thread accusing your Airbnb host of Satanic rituals is a comment in itself & deserves an article looking into your claims, regardless of whether or not you respond

(He doesn’t have the same complaints about the Fox News, MSN, Yahoo and other stories who uncritically repeated his claims)

Satanic panic claims aren’t neutral, they aren’t harmless and they aren’t accusations to make lightly, but in this case— because they revolved around a windup toy, a Baphomet, a bird in a bag - they became a lighthearted trending topic on Twitter.

I’ve spent a lot of time in the last few months thinking about how Q and Pizzagate is asserting itself in a sudden and worrisome way in the broader culture- from Wayfair sex trafficking claims to the Pizzagate TikTok teens. I think we’re at the start of something very bad.

This isn’t a story invalidating Mr.Joseph and his family for being uncomfortable in a house full of stuff they found weird or scary. I don’t doubt that was sincerely distressing. I don’t doubt my perspective as a spooky white person makes them less frightening to me. However

I quite simply don’t think that a reaction to fear or discomfort is to make wild accusations - witchcraft, satanic rituals, “ritualistic markings” - that could, and have, resulted in people getting hurt, ostracized and even thrown in jail in the recent past.

Anyway I invite you all to read the story, and then follow up with this one about another instance where people’s imaginations took them in some really worrisome directions. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/akzem5/the-incident-on-the-a-road