And going back to the fact that these websites absolutely don't turn you into a sociopath, they are fan-fucking-tastic if you're already one of those to begin with. Forums and Twitter are great ways to pass the time if you have no empathy, considering how impersonal they can be. And you know who tends to fit into that? Teenagers. Specifically, teenage boys.

"Cognitive empathy" -- aka the ability to relate to other people's perspectives -- is not something that develops right away in people. For girls, it happens around the age of 13, but for boys it tends to start a bit later ... right around the time they become parentally untethered online. And while I'm totally speculating, it makes way more sense to me that the reason so many spree killers are young men isn't that men are inherently terrible crime monsters, but that they are biologically more susceptible to violent actions in an age in which you can escape into a faceless digital world. After all, I remember being that age when the internet first became a thing (I'm fucking old, you guys), and can personally attest to the hours I spent on sites like rotten.com and Limewire seeing just how much my adolescent brain could take. That doesn't mean I'm a psychopath, right? Right, guys? We wouldn't want that.

And since my early days, it's gotten easier to find not only just about any corner of darkness you want, but also a whole digital community lurking there with you ...

But today, I don't have to worry about any of that. There's already a Reddit community of over 3,000 people who share my interest:

Reddit
NSFW, by the way. It may all be a big joke, but you will still see a dragon getting railed by a firetruck.

I know, I know, it's a joke subreddit. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The point I'm trying to make here is this: One of the strengths of the internet is that it unites people from all over the country and world ... which at times is also one of the worst things about it as well. Because along with political advocates, LGBT groups, nerd communities, people who drink beer in the shower while naked (hey, NSFW), and any other innocuous lifestyles like cosplayers and furries, we're also seeing the garbage unions of Nazis, child predators, animal abusers, weird-shaped egg enthusiasts, and a fucking 2,000-strong group devoted to Taylor Swift's armpits:

Reddit
Which somehow forced the dragon-fucking out of top spot on the "weirdest fetish in this article" list.

This is something we've talked about before with online MRA groups. In the same way that a cult isolates and bubbles people into a false interpretation of reality, some online groups find the equally susceptible and gather them under one obsessive interest. And to keep repeating, it's not that the internet is making them this way, but rather that it's creating a nurturing place where those beliefs can be not only unchallenged but supported. Someone like an anti-vaxxer or Sandy Hook truther would be booed out of an everyday conversation, but online, they are not alone. Online, they have a community to assure them that what they are doing isn't bat-dong wacky-sacks.

And then it's only a matter of time before that person grows to believe that the rest of the world is the problem. Their awkwardness, isolation, and social anxiety is suddenly a justified reaction to a backwards society. It's only a matter of time before they proudly lash out against the non-digital world, and what was once a quiet hobby becomes some dude fucking a neighbor's Tegu dressed like a Transformer. Or, you know, a man shooting up Planned Parenthood after enveloping himself in anti-abortion YouTube videos edited to falsely assert that the organization sells baby parts.

And I know that it seems super weird to lump violence with joke subreddits about celebrity arm fetishes, but there's a deliberate reason I'm doing this ...

And as we sort of touched on before, this shock value is likely what a lot of 4channers and younger right-wingers think they are creating:

Reddit, via Buzzfeed

See, the joke was this: Pretend that certain symbols like the "OK" hand sign are Nazi salutes to freak out the media into thinking it's real. Only guess what? "Pretending" something is a Nazi salute is ultimately the same goddamn thing as using an actual Nazi salute. And the more you do it, the more you end up attracting actual Nazis. Being "ironically" racist is just being racist, especially if you're not building to any punchline beyond "Look how racist we're being!"

And what comes next isn't pretty. Ever hear of Alt-Reich Nation? It was a Facebook group all about "jokingly" posting racist and sexist memes. I say "jokingly" because its creator came out and clarified just that -- as he put it to The New York Times, "Nothing is meant as true; we follow none of the beliefs." And if you're wondering why he had to make that public correction, it's because one of their members recently stabbed and killed someone in what appeared to be a hate crime. But I'm sure he was just doing it for the lulz.

And what's worse is that this problem is especially evident with law enforcement. That Mr. Roof? He had run into the cops multiple times in the past, even being questioned by the police for owning parts to a firearm. But since there was nothing physical linking him to any potential violence, there was no reason to keep an eye on him. Same with the Orlando nightclub shooter, whose neighbor flat-out reported him to the FBI for potential radicalization. They thoroughly investigated it and found no hard evidence, despite it being completely true. How did they miss it? Because it was happening online, while he was alone, with nobody noticing what was happening. He was radicalized into committing mass murder without leaving the comfort of his ergonomic office chair and microwave nachos. And while that certainly speaks volumes about the delightful convenience of the digital age, I'd like to hope you're seeing what the big problem is here. Especially because these two instances aren't the only ones by a long shot ...

I can keep going. You probably don't even remember the guy back in 2007 who shot up a megachurch in Colorado, killing four. He was a member of an anti-Christian site the feds were alerted to hours after the incident. And just recently, there was the unhinged and racist Portland train attacker, who was deemed too intense for a right-wing rally and kept to the internet instead.

Look, I really can't stress this enough: Nowhere am I saying that the internet is changing sane people into racist lunatics. Nor am I trying to ignore the millions of other factors, like mental health care and gun control, which play into the uptick of spree killings. And to be honest, I can't even offer a definitive solution beyond personal responsibility and attention toward people around you who may be troubled. But maybe it would be a good start to at least keep a compassionate eye on your friends and family, and be there to let them know that the non-meme world is pretty cool, too. Otherwise this will just continue, and not even our sexy lizards will be safe.

Ironically, follow Dave on his Twitter, where he spends a lot of his time.

Also check out We Asked A Mass Shooter Why The Hell This Keeps Happening and I Hunt Serial Killers: 6 Facts You Thought Movies Made Up.

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