How to know someone is a crank

When they say something like this

Over the past decade, through "Dungeons & Dragons" and computer fantasy play and gaming, it's becoming increasingly acceptable for people in their 20s to spend hours a day engaged in adopting mythical characters or pretending they are part of a medieval society. A lot of young people are taking this fascination and acceptance of fantasy play with them into street culture. They will get engaged in elaborate, real-time fantasy games as part of this culture. They might perform rescue missions or decide that somebody offended them and have a mission to go punish the perpetrator.

From Taking it to the streets, an interview with Rene Denfeld, author of All God's Children on Salon.

I'm vaguely aware of the issue of street kids and their culture, its been in the paper's here in Boston. But this vision of fantasy and drugs fueling crazy out of control violence (these kids are all hopped up on meth!) comes across as being in the same thread as "satanism scares" and white slavery.

I mean come on, anytime anyone mentions D&D as a problem endemic in our society you know they have issues seperating truth from fiction. One more reason why I find Salon problematic these days is their giving this person this sort of white-wash publicity.