Thread by @wretchardthecat

Is the devil -- never mind the term for a moment -- at least in the sense of a malignant meme or malicious idea, is on the loose? The theory of Contagion Terrorism.

terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/p…

"Speak of the devil and he doth appear."

The phrase "thoughts and prayers" is much reviled, but it really means running mental anti-malware, to reinstall as it were, the right ideas in our heads that may have been corrupted by "the devil".

Educated men used to have whole routines for managing their mental state. That's the act of a free man. Today we expect the government to do it. That's censorship.

To choose what you read, select what you watch, to control what you hate or love is the province of what we now ridicule as thoughts and prayers.

The reason we have so many speech codes is that we can't discern any more.

The Sri Lanka bombers had the best education England and Australia could provide and the neo-Nazis had the finest enlightenment World of Warcraft could supply but neither could recognize Old Scratch.

The psychological benefit of confession, whatever you may think of its spiritual effect lay in the examination of conscience. You literally went through the 10 Commandments and checked your thoughts and deeds. It was like doing a virus scan.

Ha ha look at the idiot doing thoughts and prayers. Rather look at the man who never virus scans his mind.