Thread by @CamEdwards

I try not to tweet when I'm angry, but this POS in New Zealand has me in a white-hot rage. My annoyance at AOC for trying to go after the NRA, or gun control groups for already politicizing this horror, is nothing compared to the volcanic fury I feel towards this sick fuck. 1/

To quote @esaagar, "What makes me the most sick about the New Zealand shooter is the clinical nature of his violence and manifesto. It is rare and sickening to see the face of pure evil."

All of us are sinners. I believe few of us are truly evil. 2/

@esaagar But this evil individual didn't only treat hundreds of innocent and unarmed civilians as simple props in his livestream, he sought to inspire others to take his same nihilistic leap. 3/

What's really changed in our world over the last 20 years isn't the design of firearms. It's the revolutionary way we have of communicating with strangers, creating online tribes and subcultures that simply didn't exist in large numbers a generation ago. 4/

I met my wife online in 1997. We had both signed up to beta test what eventually became Yahoo Chat. She was a 32-year old single mom living in Camden, NJ, and I was a 22-year old single guy living with my best friend in Oklahoma City. That couldn't have happened in 1987. 5/

It was rare enough that we were oddballs back then. There was no Match.com. No swiping right. No Twitter or Facebook. Now though, we're able to connect with people, individually and in groups, in a way we've never been able to before. Ever. 6/

And with those opportunities to make friends with strangers from around the world, and now to even to influence strangers you'll never meet, we also have things like a community comprised of those who want to see civil war, genocide, or just random acts of nihilistic violence. 7/

There are "fans" of these killers, and while mass media certainly plays a role in giving these individuals the infamy they seek, the community of like minded individuals who glamorize, glorify, and even emulate these monsters was created by individual people, not media. 8/

The answer isn't speech control or Internet crackdowns. I don't think legislation can really touch this small but malignant community based upon an ideology of equal parts hate, narcissism, nihilism, and authoritarianism. 9/

We obviously have many divides in this country and across the world today. But we need to start focusing on one that we pay little attention to: those who want to murder their neighbors, and those who want to love them. 10/

It's easy (it's almost an obligation) to find reasons to dislike each other these days. The vast, vast majority of us, however, don't want to bring about a racial civil war or violently tear down society to build upon its ashes. We can and should recognize THAT us vs. them. 11/

Part of it is each of us looking to find the humanity in the people we disagree with politically, religiously, or culturally. But (and here's where I'm stymied), we need to also try to actively combat that toxic tribe and their ideology. 12/

I wish I could end this with some incredible words of wisdom, but you'll have to make do with the Isley Brothers. #PutALittleLoveInYourHeart 13/13