The LookoutHow a hoax about Paul Krugman and the earthquake fooled online pundits
Yesterday's earthquake offered a reminder of something we really should have learned by now: You can't take everything on the internet at face value.
Not long after the quake, Tim Carney of the conservative Washington Examiner joked in a tweet that liberal New York Times political columnist Paul Krugman thought it hadn't been big enough -- presumably because more damage would have led to more government spending in response, which could create economic growth. (This is Washington humor, remember.)
That looks to have given Carlos Guterol an idea. A recent college grad, Guterol had previously created a fake Google+ account under Krugman's name, with the aim of ridiculing the Times columnist. Guterol, under Krugman's name, posted the following message:
People on twitter might be joking, but in all seriousness, we would see a bigger boost in spending and hence economic growth if the earthquake had done more damage.
Carney was fooled. He quickly sent another Tweet telling followers that Krugman "seriously" believed the earthquake was too small. (Carney has since deleted the tweet and acknowledged his error.)
From there, the hoax spread throughout the conservative online media world. National Review writer Kevin Williamson was one of the few to express a degree of skepticism, writing: "I honestly cannot tell if I am being had here. I hope I am."
This morning, Guterol wrote a blog post confessing to the hoax. He expressed no remorse, noting that after both 9/11 and the earthquake in Japan Krugman had written those events could have an expansionary effect on the economy, by triggering government spending.
Krugman told Slate's David Weigel no one contacted him to verify whether the Google+ profile was really his. He also wrote a blog post for the Times making clear he doesn't have a Google+ page.
"Apparently some people can't find enough things to attack in what I actually say, so they're busy creating fake quotes," he wrote.
