# When sympathy for killers signals moral collapse

> After a massacre at an Eshowe Boxer store, social media sympathy for the perpetrator over victims reveals how broken institutions breed dangerous moral numbness.
- Title: When sympathy for killers signals moral collapse | Shortify
- Summary: After a massacre at an Eshowe Boxer store, social media sympathy for the perpetrator over victims reveals how broken institutions breed dangerous moral…
- Keywords: eshowe, boxer store, massacre, workplace violence, social media, institutional failure, moral compass, south africa, news, politics, sympathy, killers
- Source: Daily Maverick — https://dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2026-10-21-when-killers-earn-sympathy-societys-moral-compass-has-truly-collapsed
- Author: Kenneth Diole
- Published: 2026-10-21T11:39:37+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: eshowe, boxer store, massacre, workplace violence, social media, institutional failure, moral compass, south africa, news, politics
## A Boxer store tragedy
An employee at a Boxer store in Eshowe, reportedly aggrieved by an ongoing disciplinary process, killed three female managers responsible for executing those procedures.
## Sympathy flows to the killer
Across social media, commentators expressed sympathy for the perpetrator rather than the murdered women, claiming to understand his plight and projecting their own workplace trauma onto him.
## Workplace harassment is real
Many argued that workplace bullying, intimidation and systemic harassment by managers have become synonymous with positions of authority, sharing their own stories of toxic workplaces.
## But sympathy signals collapse
When society responds to a massacre with understanding for the killer rather than grief for victims, it reveals a chilling fracture in the collective societal psyche and dangerous moral numbness.
## Victims were human beings
The three murdered managers were husbands, wives, mothers and fathers. Everyone involved was navigating an economic system that can pit people against one another.
## Social media amplifies toxicity
Algorithms actively foster toxic detachment from human suffering, treating real-world matters of life and death as mere fodder for endless online discourse and digital engagement.
## Motive is not excuse
While the perpetrator may have had justifiable reasons for anger or despair, a motive is vastly different from an excuse for a massacre. Violence based on frustration cannot be condoned.

> A motive is vastly different from an excuse for a massacre.
## Fix institutions or face ruin
Institutions must stand firm and function properly. If society tolerates anarchy because the system is broken, it will not fix the system but destroy itself in its ruins.
## Key takeaway

An Eshowe Boxer store massacre sparked online sympathy for the killer rather than victims, exposing how institutional failure and social media toxicity erode society's moral compass.