The unfathomability of evil

We can never truly explain atrocities like the Minneapolis church shooting, but we can see how ideology distorts vulnerable minds.

Photo by Scott Olson / Getty Images

We all know evil when we see it. The origins of the concept may be theological, but you don’t have to believe in God to recognise the utter negation of humanity when it occurs. Since the news broke on Wednesday of the young man who opened fire on the Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, killing two children and injuring a further seventeen, many have been wrestling with the inevitable question: why?

The concept of ‘evil’ provides a satisfactory short-term answer. It’s a kind of shortcut that irons out ambiguities and makes sense of otherwise incomprehensible acts. To say that the killer was ‘evil’ serves as a kind of consolation, because there is a logic to the claim that only evil people do evil things. Yet the oft-quoted words by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn inevitably spring to mind:

‘If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?’

That the killer’s acts were evil is beyond doubt, but that does not settle the matter as to how a young man can become so utterly devoid of human empathy.

The theories that have been flying around the internet are as varied as can be imagined. Many are exploiting the atrocity to further their own agenda. We have seen antisemites gleefully claiming that the killer had Jewish origins, while overlooking the fact that he had written explicitly antisemitic statements on his weapons, including ‘6 million wasn’t enough’. A bulletin on ITV opened by asserting that ‘the assailant appeared to be attracted to far right ideology’, even though the contents of his manifesto – including the anti-Israel statements and his writing of ‘Kill Donald Trump’ – seem far more aligned with the far left.

Then there is the question of the killer’s trans identity. Some commentators have noted a pattern of trans-identified school shooters emerging in recent years. Others have focused on the shooter’s statements regarding his regret at transitioning as a possible motive, and blamed the doctors who affirmed his false belief that he could change sex in the first place. The mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, was quick to make a statement condemning anyone using this ‘as an opportunity to villainise our trans community’, which is reminiscent of those who invariably express concern at potential ‘Islamophobic’ backlashes following Islamist terrorist attacks. The priorities seem all wrong.

Surely we must know by now that there is no way to make sense of this horror, and that looking for clues in a killer’s ‘manifesto’ is never a reliable approach? Much was made of the writings of the Christchurch killer in 2019, with some commentators leaping on to the references to right-wing figures. But in the same document the murderer had cited video games such as Spyro the Dragon 3 and Fortnite as key influences. It should go without saying that the testimony of psychopaths is not to be trusted.

The rantings of the Minneapolis killer in a video recorded before the attack are as incoherent as one would expect. How can one comprehend the ‘Defend Equality’ slogan pasted into his notebook, illustrated as it was with the image of a machine gun? There will doubtless be many who will see the Pride flag in the notebook as evidence that the ‘LGBTQIA+’ movement is to blame, but this is to fall into the trap of collectivism. The person responsible is the man who pulled the trigger, and anyone looking for easy answers is bound to be disappointed.

All we can say for sure is that he was unstable to a homicidal degree, and that ideology of one form or another played a part. We know that a generation of young activists are battling imaginary foes, and have convinced themselves that the stakes are higher than ever. A handful even turn to extreme violence in their ongoing campaign to tear down the version of the world they have concocted in their minds.

The list of delusional campaigns is endless. Trans campaigners fantasise that they are subject to a ‘genocide’. Online influencers declare that our world leaders are puppets of an elaborate Jewish conspiracy. Extreme environmentalists are convinced that Armageddon is imminent. Mainstream politicians assert that fascism has been reborn and is currently dominant in the western world, even though support for genuine fascism has been in terminal decline for decades. And when actual fascism does appear – in the form of the rabid Jew-hatred of Hamas and Hezbollah – self-proclaimed ‘antifascists’ are cheering it on.

These are deranging times. And while we may never be able to say for certain why those children in Minneapolis lost their lives, we are right to address the growing problem of the many young people who have been seduced by causes that are mostly untethered to the real world. We may not be able to prevent the occasional eruption of evil, but we can resist the twisting of minds in the name of ideology.

---