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This is a somewhat interesting article/interview. I'm not sure I agree with the basic premise of it, though. In fact I'm pretty sure I don't agree with it at all. But it's still an interesting article, nonetheless.
That said... look. If you are a human who manages to not shoot up a mosque or a church (or anywhere else, for that matter), then you are indeed an objectively better human than one who does those things. It's not necessarily that you, yourself, are such a great and wonderful person, because you could definitely still be an utter asshole in myriad other ways. It's just that you are not as, yes, blatantly evil as they are. Someone who shoots up a temple or whatever is an evil person, full stop. Doesn't matter if they might also be kind to old ladies crossing the street or put out bowls of milk for stray kittens or whatever. If they shot up a church, especially if that was their final act in life, then they're evil, regardless of any other considerations. That is a simple fact. There is no need to hem and haw about it. It's not rocket science. It should not require intensively studying religious texts to know this. (Moreover, if intensively studying religious texts is leading you to a contrary conclusion, then, in my not so humble opinion, perhaps there is something wrong with the religious texts in question, themselves. But then, I'm no big fan of religion of any stripe, so that's probably neither here nor there. [But even I still think it's a bad, evil thing to shoot up a place of worship, regardless of my feelings about religion in general.])
Also, there is the paradox of tolerance. If you refrain from being judgmental and discriminatory against people who are, by very definition, going to be judgmental and discriminatory against you (e.g. white supremacists who think it is a fine thing to shoot up a church full of POCs), then you are basically giving those people carte blanche to do what they want when they want, at least in thought if not in deed. (And just to nip any potential "oh noes not the thought police" criticisms in the bud, you can sit around and think whatever nasty vile thoughts you want, all day. If you want to think that all black people are n*ggers or whatever, that's great. If you want to think that all Muslims are terrorists, then sure, go to town with your bad [evil] self. But the first instant you speak up with that shit, that's no longer just a thought, that's an action. Speaking is an action, let alone shooting up a church full of black/brown people. And in response, I'm going to speak up myself in order to, at the very least, call you a fucking asshat, and you'd fully deserve that label and worse, even if you may think you don't.)
Essentially, what I am saying here is thatifwhen I hear stories about things like white supremacist shitnuggets who shoot up a church or a mosque or a sikh temple or whatever, you can bet your last dollar that I'm going to continue to be loudly judgmental and discriminatory against said shitnuggets. And if society as a whole did a better job of being extremely loudly judgmental and discriminatory against such shitnuggets, rather than the whatever the hell is going on these days, then it would become a lot harder for the shitnuggets to be shitnuggets at all, you know? At the very least, it may make it slightly less easy for them to reach the point where they're out shooting up temples and mosques and churches, anyway.
I get that it may do us no good in the specific instance of just sitting around and perpetually stewing about some fuckwit who shot up a church and then committed suicide, because nothing we say or do or think will affect that one specific guy, and if that's the point trying to be made here, then sure. That's all fine and good. Let go of your hate, in that particular case. I don't dwell on guys like that either, because they're simply not worth the effort (even if they may be still alive). However, even so, I'm still going to continue to believe that the dead guy (or the alive guy who's in prison or on the run or whatever) was an evil shitstain on the underwear of humanity, though, and if expressing such disdain at the dumbfuckery of guys like that manages to convince even one other future potential dumbfuck to abandon said dumbfuckery, then it's still a net gain, overall.
That said... look. If you are a human who manages to not shoot up a mosque or a church (or anywhere else, for that matter), then you are indeed an objectively better human than one who does those things. It's not necessarily that you, yourself, are such a great and wonderful person, because you could definitely still be an utter asshole in myriad other ways. It's just that you are not as, yes, blatantly evil as they are. Someone who shoots up a temple or whatever is an evil person, full stop. Doesn't matter if they might also be kind to old ladies crossing the street or put out bowls of milk for stray kittens or whatever. If they shot up a church, especially if that was their final act in life, then they're evil, regardless of any other considerations. That is a simple fact. There is no need to hem and haw about it. It's not rocket science. It should not require intensively studying religious texts to know this. (Moreover, if intensively studying religious texts is leading you to a contrary conclusion, then, in my not so humble opinion, perhaps there is something wrong with the religious texts in question, themselves. But then, I'm no big fan of religion of any stripe, so that's probably neither here nor there. [But even I still think it's a bad, evil thing to shoot up a place of worship, regardless of my feelings about religion in general.])
Also, there is the paradox of tolerance. If you refrain from being judgmental and discriminatory against people who are, by very definition, going to be judgmental and discriminatory against you (e.g. white supremacists who think it is a fine thing to shoot up a church full of POCs), then you are basically giving those people carte blanche to do what they want when they want, at least in thought if not in deed. (And just to nip any potential "oh noes not the thought police" criticisms in the bud, you can sit around and think whatever nasty vile thoughts you want, all day. If you want to think that all black people are n*ggers or whatever, that's great. If you want to think that all Muslims are terrorists, then sure, go to town with your bad [evil] self. But the first instant you speak up with that shit, that's no longer just a thought, that's an action. Speaking is an action, let alone shooting up a church full of black/brown people. And in response, I'm going to speak up myself in order to, at the very least, call you a fucking asshat, and you'd fully deserve that label and worse, even if you may think you don't.)
Essentially, what I am saying here is that
I get that it may do us no good in the specific instance of just sitting around and perpetually stewing about some fuckwit who shot up a church and then committed suicide, because nothing we say or do or think will affect that one specific guy, and if that's the point trying to be made here, then sure. That's all fine and good. Let go of your hate, in that particular case. I don't dwell on guys like that either, because they're simply not worth the effort (even if they may be still alive). However, even so, I'm still going to continue to believe that the dead guy (or the alive guy who's in prison or on the run or whatever) was an evil shitstain on the underwear of humanity, though, and if expressing such disdain at the dumbfuckery of guys like that manages to convince even one other future potential dumbfuck to abandon said dumbfuckery, then it's still a net gain, overall.
