The signature actions of the predator cannot be hidden. When a person desires to excuse their evil deeds done to another, these six ex post facto elements will often become the justifying factors the predator affixes in their mind.

In the end, Cain will always be Cain.

The predator does not think in terms of what actions will serve to clarify, add value, nor alleviate suffering or risk (ethical skepticism). The pathological predator (fake skeptic, debunker, troll, stalker, virtue signaler, pedophile, groomer, exploiter, griefer, thief, abuser, poison purveyor, science poseur, and Party apparatchik) thinks in terms of weakness and identifying a party whom they can harm. The sociopath predator allows a third-party agency which co-occupies their mind, to dictate their thinking for them – egging them onward and simultaneously then accusing and justifying them thereafter. Such torment mandates the keeping of appearances. Accordingly, the sociopath is often a person who is well-groomed in terms of social affability and acceptable protocol. After all, this is what the third-party voice has been training them to be sensitive to their entire lives. However, while this voice hides amidst the social conformity, the signature actions of the predator themself cannot be hidden. These can be viewed through the lens of their method of ex post facto action-to-rationalization, as outlined herein.

ex post facto – rationalized or formulated after an event, often so as to frame, explain, or justify it and/or avert accountability.

I Didn’t Kill Her, I ‘Ended Her Life’

Most people are aware of the tragic murder of Gabby Petito by her fiancée and travel companion, Brian Laundrie sometime in late August of 2021. Gabby Petito’s family reported her missing on September 11^th, weeks after she last spoke with them by phone.  After murdering Gabby, Brian Laundrie returned home on September 1^st to North Port, Florida where the couple had lived, with no sign of his fiancée. Authorities recovered their travel van on September 11^th, and began a forensic examination of the vehicle.

Laundrie never acknowledged his guilt in the murder, even to the very last note he left, one outlining how Gabby had died (the text of the note can be seen here). In his suicide ‘confession’ are displayed the trappings of the pathological predator – in style, element, and rationalization. Accordingly and sadly, one may observe that Laundrie remained a predator to the very end.

While most pathological predators will not go to the extreme of murdering a loved one, there are certain signature elements of rationalization which the predator personality, the troll, the stalker, the debunker, the harasser, the assassin, and the self-absorbed cynic, employ to justify their actions after the fact. This is called ex post facto rationalization. When a person desires to excuse their evil deeds done to another, these will often become the justifying factors the predatory affixes in their mind. Their thinking constantly revolves around the motive, ‘How can I justify what I want to do here, after the fact, and make myself look good to a third party (see ‘repentance’ below)? These signature elements follow, exemplified by excerpts from Brian Laundrie’s suicide ‘confession’ (in blue text).

The Predator is Really the True Victim

This is the only context in which the predator will address the subject of themself. They will make an attempt to garner the sympathy/empathy of a third party viewing audience. Their rights were violated, they were understandably infuriated, they are the center of the universe – how dare anyone broach their princely or princess status. They know that they cannot sway the opinion of those harmed, and the reality is that they couldn’t care less about that. The true priority is how the predator is viewed by a third party. This ever-presence of the proxy third-party viewpoint inside their head, reveals an enormous pathology in lack of regard for both action and victim. This can often mistakenly be viewed as ‘social intelligence’ by those who fail to understand the nature of this type of self-deception. This is why the autistic/Asperger’s mind is often viewed as socially inept – as it fails to maintain these self-watching, socially honed, and self-deceiving traits.

I wish I was right at your side, I wish I could be talking to you right now. I’ve lost every day we could’ve spent together. Every holiday. I’ll never get to play with [unintelligible] again. Never go hiking with TJ. Knowing that everyday you’ll wake up without [Gabby], you wouldn’t want to wake up. I carried her as far as I could down the stream towards the car, stumbling exhausted in shock, when my knees buckled and knew I couldn’t safely carry her. But from the moment I decided, took away her pain, I knew I couldn’t go on without her.

Demandé des Ennuis

French for ‘(they) begged for trouble or left me no choice’ – the predator will manufacture or fantasize in their mind, the excuse that their victim really wanted this or was begging for it and that they therefore, had no option but to enact righteous harm. This serving to of course justify their actions as a reasonable response to the victim’s provocation; harm which they had conducted or intended to conduct from very beginning, but were simply waiting for the right excuse to blame it upon. (Note that this is not the same circumstance as self defense)

When I pulled Gabby out of the water she couldn’t tell me what hurt. She had a small bump on her forehead that eventually got larger. Her feet hurt, her wrist hurt [notice the autoaufheben appeal here as compared to the claim in the previous sentence] but she was freezing, shaking violently, while carrying her she continually made sounds of pain, laying next to her she said little lapsing between violent shakes, gasping in pain, begging for an end to the pain. I ended her life, I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted…

Quo Facto Malo

Latin for ‘having done this evil’ – the predator will manufacture or fantasize in their mind, offenses, subtle mistakes, weaknesses, or violations their target has committed, which serve to therefore justify their actions or caused them to come to fruition. Harm which they knew of, had conducted, or intended to conduct from very beginning, but were simply waiting for the right excuse to blame it upon. Offenses can be as simple as what time of the day the victim uses the restroom, subtleties of when they use a semicolon versus a comma, or any perception of violation the predator can manufacture or intimate. To the pathological mind, it does not matter. An offense is an offense. Their righteousness has been violated and punishment is now due – a debt which cannot be shirked (note: they are the keeper of ‘the ledger’, and this itself is revealing).

She would fall asleep and I would shake her awake fearing she shouldn’t close her eyes if she had a concussion. She would wake in pain start the whole painful cycle again while furious that I was the one waking her. She wouldn’t let me try to cross the creek, thought like me that this fire would go out in her sleep and she’d freeze …she was so thin, had already been freezing too long [please note again the autoaufheben appeal wherein he later claims he had no idea the extent of her injuries].

Force Majeure

French for ‘superior or major intervening force or factor’. All aspects of the predator’s actions, which cannot be examined or attributed to them by means of direct evidence, will be conveniently explained by an exceptional and natural factor which was out of their control. This scope includes the predator’s temporary state of confusion, panic, substance abuse, intoxication, insanity, or uncertainty – all forces of course, of a completely understandable nature (inside the play-act the predator has assembled to deceive themself as to the justafiability of their actions).

Rushing back to our car trying to cross the streams of Spread Creek before it got too dark to see, to cold. I hear a splash and a scream. I could barely see, I couldn’t find her for a moment, shouted her name. I found her breathing heavily gasping my name, she was freezing cold. We had just come from the blazing hot National Parks in Utah. The temperature had dropped to freezing and she was soaking wet. I carried her as far as I could down the stream towards the car, stumbling exhausted in shock, when my knees buckled and knew I couldn’t safely carry her. I started a fire and spooned her as close to the heat, she was so thin, had already been freezing too long. I couldn’t at the time realize that I should’ve started a fire first but I wanted her out of the cold back to the car. From where I started the fire I had no idea how far the car might be [notice avoidance of the objective framing ‘how far the car was’]. Only knew it was across the creek.

An Enormous Hidden Conceit

The predator will make a concerted effort to ensure that he is not viewed as confident (conceited), as conceit is the habit of the narcissist – and narcissists are automatically guilty in the eyes of their mental ‘third-party’ observer. Remember, this ever-presence of the judging proxy third-party viewpoint inside their head, reveals an enormous pathology in lack of regard for both action and victim. Squelching of one’s own social sins therefore is his or her first priority. The predator will conflate confidence and conceit as being a single thing, and therefore mistakenly feign a lack of confidence as if it indicated their lack of conceit. Take this as a flag of warning, as in “I’m just a good ole boy, nuthin’ special here…” A ‘good ole boy’ is neither a boy, humble, nor good.

“If a man thinks he is not conceited, he is very conceited indeed.”
― C.S. Lewis

“I’m not conceited. Conceit is a fault and I have no faults.”
― David Lee Roth

“Nothing offends the narcissist more, than observing narcissism in their intended victim. To never refer to one’s self (save as a the humble victim) therefore, is a habit of highest conceit.”
― The Ethical Skeptic

I rushed home to spend any time I had left with my family. I wanted to drive north and let James or TJ kill me but I wouldn’t want them to spend time in jail over my mistake, even though I’m sure they would have liked to. I am ending my life not because of a fear of punishment [a confession of the actual motivation] but rather because I can’t stand to live another day without her. I’m sorry for everyones loss. Please do not make life harder for my family, they lost a son and a daughter. The most wonderful girl in the world. Gabby I’m sorry. I have killed myself by this creek in the hopes that animals may tear me apart. That it may make some of her family happy.

The Vulnerable are Consistently the Ones Harmed First

The final factor which presents itself in the pathology of the predator, is the ubiquitous presence of vulnerability in the harmed party (the blood sacrifice). The predator is intoxicated by the suffering of an innocent (the loosh). Accordingly, and most conveniently, the party harmed by the pathological predator is rarely ever powerful. They are almost always alone and have been cut off from any form of support. They are almost always, an innocent. An abused spouse, closed fashion or jewelry business, a vulnerable child or under-aged sexual exploitation target, an older person, a small business, or a person walking a deserted street alone, a family which has just lost a loved-one, a newborn, or other defenseless target – these opportunities drive the predator to undertake actions which in reality they find uncontrollable. They shall unseal their righteous bowls of wrath under the thunderous fanfare of trumpets.

Gabby was adored by many. They loved as much, if not more than me. She was so thin, had already been freezing too long. She was …shaking violently, while carrying her she continually made sounds of pain, laying next to her she said little lapsing between violent shakes, gasping in pain, begging for an end to her pain. Gabby hated people who litter.

August 12^th police dispatch: “RP (Recording party) states seeing a male hit a female, domestic. He got into a white Ford Transit van, has a black ladder on the back, Florida plate. I’m not sure, but the female who got hit, they both, the male and the female both got into the van and headed north.”¹

The predator is constantly controlled by forces they do not fully comprehend. Continually reacting to the self-blame and ex post facto rationalization before a third-party judge in their mind – a factor curiously wound up in the compulsion in the first place. They are disarming, sometimes enticing, and often charming. They are the ‘humble and not greedy’ academic who just happens to have their name foisted into as many publications and award nominations as is humanly possible. They have been taught the act well.

Repentance – (see The Riddle of Sin) a divorce from the condemning and compelling third-party voice. The reclaiming of one’s integrity from the constant buffeting and dissolution cycle of blame, ex post facto explaining, self-justification, hiding from accountability, and continuous compulsion to misdeed and correct appearances. The process of having ‘overcome’ – stepping calmly into the light of accountability for the harm one has cleverly sought, to gratefully acknowledge a new direction and purpose.

“The great escape of our times is escape from personal responsibility for the consequences of one’s own behavior.”
― Thomas Sowell, Dismantling America, 2010

vilis ex post facto – a principle of skepticism which contends regarding potential predators, ‘Don’t ask for an explanation, instead, just quietly watch what they do’. The predator has already rehearsed in their mind, the exculpatory reason for the harm they have enacted. It is their fruit which distinguishes them, not their explaining. Similar to the business apothegm. ‘Don’t complain, don’t explain’.

virgo sui – the principle of the virgin self; a psychology which exists as a counterpart to pathological mindsets inside immoral activity. A childish mind cannot accept nor recognize their own dark nature or nefarious actions. A criminal never thinks that they actually committed a/the crime, or may excuse it as justified in some way by means of society, the victim, being street smart or simply that this is the way of their world. A person who commits a wrong and immediately denies inside their own mind that they did it or are culpable. The opposite of repentance.

My intent here of course, is not to speak ill of the dead; but rather to point out the habits of most cleverly concealed avarice on the part of an abusive individual. A set of tools which allow the ethical skeptic to spot that 8% of society (the Crazy Eight) who move through their life as does a roaring lion, seeking nothing but to devour according to what that third-party voice dictates, or what lust it may choose at any given time.

The Ethical Skeptic, “The Ex Post Facto Mindset of the Predator”; The Ethical Skeptic, WordPress, 25 Jun 2022; Web, https://theethicalskeptic.com/?p=66226

1. Chis Bradford, The US Sun: Missed Chances – Brian Laundrie did hit Gabby Petito but ‘cops still failed to save her’, new dispatch audio reveals; 27 Sep 2021; https://www.the-sun.com/news/3740359/brian-laundrie-hit-gabby-petito-cops-failed-dispatch/