The kitten-burners seem to fulfill some urgent need. They give us someone
we can clearly and correctly say we’re better than. Their extravagant
cruelty makes us feel better about ourselves because we know that we
would never do what they have done. They thus function as signposts of
depravity, reassuring the rest of us that we’re Not As Bad As them, and
thus letting us tell ourselves that this is the same thing as us being
good.
Forty Beheaded Babies* means we can kill anyone anywhere we want and tell ourselves that they're worse
from https://redsails.org/false-witnesses/