On Fog, Fools, and Following the Clues: A Modest Guide to Thinking Like a Detective

There’s a peculiar fog that’s settled over the world lately. Not the kind that rolls in over moors and lingers in valleys, but the sort that creeps in through glowing screens, settles in group chats, and makes its home in comment sections. It smells faintly of outrage, moves at the speed of a Wi-Fi signal, and has one singular mission: to confuse.

In this fog, people don’t speak—they declare. Every conversation feels like a showdown. And the quieter voices, the thoughtful ones, the “hmm-let-me-think-about-that” types? They get drowned out by the noise, often mistaken for weakness when, in fact, they’re the ones doing the hardest thing of all: trying to understand.

Which brings us to the detective.