Lately I’ve been dealing with some people on Bluesky who advocate violence against people whose ideas are sufficiently repugnant. One of them, a supposed “libertarian,” cited Popper’s “paradox of tolerance” at me, then descended into outright trolling when I linked to my article on the topic in response. I immediately blocked him, of course.

Laws restricting which ideas may be freely expressed are bad enough. Direct violence by individuals or mobs won’t have so broad an effect, but the outcomes in individual cases may be worse. Let’s look at the threats allegedly made by John Reardon of Millis, Massachusetts. According to the DoJ release, called a Jewish synagogue and reportedly said: “You do realize that by supporting genocide that means it’s ok for people to commit genocide against you.” “With supporting the killing of innocent little children, that means it’s OK to kill your children.” “End the genocide, or it is time to end Israel and all the Jews.”

In the name of opposing “genocide,” the man making these threats has sunk into full-blown Nazism. And I suppose I need to make a point clear for those who will willfully misunderstand: That isn’t just the advocacy of “intolerant” ideas, but a targeted and credible threat to commit mass murder against children. I don’t grant that the name of free speech, nor does the US legal system.

Let’s look at another case, involving actual vigilante violence. Six students at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, have been charged with violently assaulting an innocent man as part of a “Catch a Predator” scheme. A member of the gang contacted him, saying she was 18 years old, and invited him to an on-campus lounge. I haven’t seen any reports that he did anything untoward, but in a few minutes gang members assaulted him and called him a pedophile. He “was chased by at least 25 people to his car, where he was punched in the head and his car door was slammed on him. He fled and called city police.” The people charged are also accused of subsequently lying to the police about what happened, as video evidence contradicted their statements.

Maybe initially they really were after predators. It’s conceivable, though unlikely, they heard Leslie Fish’s song “Susan B” and decided to emulate the protagonist. But once their idea turned into practice, it became lynch-mob action, with no regard for facts or justice.

Self-righteous violence doesn’t make you better. It makes you the same as the people you claim to be going after.