Thread by @ErrataRob

A good example of the Internet outrage machine. A lot of outrage at people like Juan Williams and Joy Behar for suggesting police fire warning shots. Almost no discussion why this might be a good or bad idea.

https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1385339322493177861

What I find most interesting is the Dunning-Krueger effect where people imagine that this is something that hasn't been considered before, as if this was something that the police officer decided on the spur of the moment, rather than something they were trained to do.

Virtually every police officer is instructed and trained so that when somebody is attacking with a knife, that you shoot that person in the center of mass. There's a lot of research on this topic.

There are situations where people aren't in the imminent danger they were in this case. There's much discussion whether warning shots are appropriate then. It's a good starter for the topic:
thetruthaboutguns.com/force-science-…

It's totally reasonable to claim that a warning shot should've been used, even though it's wrong. Being wrong doesn't mean being unreasonable. It's through questioning and open debate that we acquire knowledge.

Shouting down people, as in these twitter threads, forestalls open debate and changes nobody minds. It just convinces supporters of the wrong idea that they must be right -- if they were wrong, the other side would explain why they were wrong instead of being so toxic.