But "Notes" is a canny work of literature, not a tract: Dostoevsky may have put his own ideas into the mouth of a brilliant man, but he undermined him as a self-destructive mess at the same time.
It's no wonder they got riled: their party has become a big, hot, self-destructive mess, and the chief reason is its inability to sideline the wacko birds, like Cruz, who increasingly rule the roost.
But if the public does not demand and get good rather than destructive governance, the mess we have in Washington is our fault not theirs.
If you're seeking to be like a vampire because you want to lord it over other people, disempower others, and mess with their lives, rethink your destructive tendencies.
All of us have an inner coach, or "critical inner voice," that lures us into destructive behavior then pounces on us the minute we mess up.
Yes, Labour has been a mess this year, partly down to the unnecessary and destructive leadership battle of the summer; partly down to mistakes by the leadership.
It's just going to be a confused, chaotic mess of media manipulation, and it's terrifying and destructive and dehumanising and tragic.
Now it has become increasingly clear that the party will be more destructive than anyone had anticipated, and that a few guests will be disproportionately stuck with the mess.
As idiotic as this is, it made me realize that I have a pretty messed up way of dealing with guilt, the emotion that figures in my destructive thoughts the most.
It has yielded a mess of pottage: grotesque inequality, worrisome insecurity, moral confusion, an epidemic of self-destructive behavior, endless wars, and basic institutions that work poorly if at all.
