Two evil assholes murdered several dozen people in New Zealand the other day. Beyond the usual responses, we are witnessing much discussion about their “manifesto,” and its true intent. Was it anti-this or anti-that? Was it deliberately trolling? Was it intended to do this or to do that?

I have one thing to say to these pigs (with apologies to pigs). Fuck you and your manifesto garbage. You’re pieces of shit, and I don’t give a fuck what your motives are. You deserve to be locked in concrete boxes for the rest of your lives, suffering the anguish of isolation, and your names deserve to be expunged, Trotsky-style, from the history books. In fact, I was thrilled to see early news reports blur their faces and not mention their names. Fuck their notoriety.

As for all the rest? My thoughts on this one are coalescing around the politicians’, pundits’, and Internet loudmouths’ reactions, which are broadly divisive along the usual fault lines. As such, they exacerbate the toxicity that feeds the egos and sick motivations of evil assholes like these two.

How about we create a new fault line? Normal people vs evil assholes.

We all know how to behave. We all know that we can disagree, often heatedly, with each other on policy and philosophy, without the need to personally attack each other, or call each other names, or do any of the rotten things we see in social media all the time. We all know how not to be evil, and we all know how not to be assholes.

Want to make society better? Want to diminish, rather than amplify, the various divisions that feed into the delusions of evil assholes? It’s simple.

Don’t be a shit head, even if you think it’s the best way to get your way, even if it’s proven to be the best way to get your way (yes, I’m talking to you, Twitter-fuckheads). We all know how to behave in civilized society, how about we start acting that way? Don’t dehumanize your ideological opposites – they’re as human as you are, even if you think they’re terribly wrong about things that affect you.

If someone’s being an asshole, call him or her out on it, even if he or she’s a member of your tribe. Don’t soften it up with whataboutism, or look the other way and hope it blows over, or look to justify the message while condemning the excess, or complain that you shouldn’t be forced to condemn your own when the other side hasn’t condemned its own. Just call that person out for being an asshole, full stop.

As for the “why” and “what to do” about sick fucks like these who commit atrocities? Stop looking to peripheral stuff. You can’t legislate it away. The reasons have to do with how we now treat each other, how we’ve normalized rage, and how we grant notoriety and endless hours of public discourse to these evil assholes.

• About the Author

About Peter Venetoklis

I am twice-retired, a former rocket engineer and a former small business owner. At the very least, it makes for interesting party conversation. I'm also a life-long libertarian, I engage in an expanse of entertainments, and I squabble for sport.

Nowadays, I spend a good bit of my time arguing politics and editing this website.

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