That’s not a lie, it’s just an error. The “whites don’t shoot whites” quotation is accurate, and I updated the article to accurately reflect what prompted the shooter to say it. I’ll leave this here as a record of the correction. Thanks for pointing it out.

I stand by my interpretation of Shapiro’s comment. He tried to dismiss any connection between the bomber and public rhetoric on the grounds that Sayoc is “an obvious nut job.” But the reason public rhetoric can be dangerous is not primarily that some calm, reasonable people will hear it and take it literally, but that impressionable, unhinged people will.