Of course everyone knows that NextDoor is 4Chan for housedwelling psychopaths. They get one another so damn revved up about how much their housedwelling selves are suffering because homeless human beings exist that they think it’s normal and OK to talk about firebombing them or shooting them with anti-tank weapons.

And these are seemingly normal people. They have jobs. They own businesses. They appear to be respectable. They must be exposed. And sometimes it’s useful to mock them as well as expose their violent ideas, maybe humiliate them, mess with their Google search results so their friends and co-workers can see how dangerous, how violent they are.

But sometimes their own words are so obviously insane, so completely outside the boundaries of civilized humanity, that it’s only necessary to quote. Behold a NextDoor thread started by a guy named Gabriel Aronson, who owns a Venice pet care business called The Tranquil Dog. He’s advocating on NextDoor for the use of military grade acoustic weapons against homeless human beings.

And these days this is not an anomaly. As Pete White of LA CAN has said: “The current wave of online rhetoric advocating violence and dehumanizing houseless people is much more than ‘good people online simply venting.’ This is a declaration of war.” And also see how not one person criticizes Aronson. Instead they worry about whether these acoustic weapons will also harm dogs or disturb their housedwelling neighbors.¹ Here’s how Aronson kicked off the discussion:

It has come to my attention that many people are looking for solutions to the homeless encampment’s that are going up around businesses and homes.

These provide fields where if someone where to encamp in them they would suffer from severe head aches and non lethal ailments.

And he provides links. First to an apparently scholarly paper called Acoustic Weapons – AProspective Assessment and then to a website where one can apparently buy these ultrasonic pain guns, which were, according to these dealers, developed for the Israeli military:

You will find on this page devices that can be tied in with alarm systems to provide a PAIN FIELD that can produce very uncomfortable to painful effects. These can range from debilitating and incapacitating, to enervating fear and threatening, to sickening nausea and nerve racking paranoia…all without physical contact! Effects can vary to an extent with number of units used, installation, distances, target sensitivity, and other variables.

A major part of this technology was developed in our labs for the Israeli military and now is used by other militaries (including the US and Israel) and peace-keepers as a deterrent to discourage and break up unruly crowd gatherings and potential riots.


And you might think that someone out there on NextDoor, just one person, might tell this guy that he’s being insane. That it’s not OK to use acoustic weapons of war on human beings who happen to be living on a sidewalk. It’s horrific. But no one said that. Not that they didn’t have concerns, though. They did. One of them, Jojo Werman, is worried about the neighbors. And he doesn’t mean the homeless neighbors. Go ahead and shoot them with ultrasonic weapons:

What effects will it have on the immediate neighbors above you, across the alley and next door? I have experienced sound wave pain in the past. It is not pretty.

And Gabriel Aronson appreciates Werman’s sensitivity. Of course we have to think about our neighbors. The ones in houses, anyway. And now he’s talking about handheld ultrasonic weapons, which I guess he’s going to walk around the streets of Venice pointing at people:

Good question. You can target these devices to only hit certain areas. Of course be considerate of your neighbors. However, most of these technologies will not penetrate structures. There are hand held ones you can use periodically when needed as well as ones you can install on buildings to work consistently.

Werman appreciates the utter thoughtfulness of Aronson’s response. And in case anyone was about to forget who the real victims of our ongoing housing crisis, well, Werman is here to remind everyone that it is the housedwellers, forced by the very existence of homelessness to consider aiming ultrasonic military weapons at their unhoused neighbors:

… aren’t these just terrible times we are dealing with to have to consider such things. But I am also fed up with being afraid of the people setting up outside of my windows and hoping over my fences.

Never fear, says Aronson. Trump will save us! Except the State of California is fighting Trump!

I’m so sorry that you are at your wits end. Fortunately, Trump is in the process of taking action against California in allowing the crises to become this bad. In the meantime this will work very well for you. Unfortunately the state of California has committed to fighting Trump on the issue.

And there are more concerned citizens besides Jojo Werman. For instance, Sean Caragher, who wants to make sure that if they’re using military soundwave weaponry against homeless people, they warn housedwellers who might walk their dogs into the pain zone: “You should post a sign if using sound waves for the people walking their dogs in front of your property.”

And this theme of concern for animals, this worry that what they see as perfectly justified violence against homeless people might inadvertently harm pets or wildlife, is on full display here with housedweller Inta Ievins’s question: “What affect does this have to animals and wild life?”

And we close with Aronson’s confession that not only do these weapons affect animals, but that he has used them against his housedwelling neighbors in Arizona, on what he’s pleased to call his “estate.” Thoroughly, completely, insane:

Unfortunately, it will effect wildlife and animals. I have used this at my estate in Arizona for control of rabbits and roof rats which eat my citrus and plants. However, I turn it off when my Dobermans are in the yard. My neighbor bought an old Frank Lloyd Wright house which was next door to me and tried to use it as a venue for weddings. I was simply able to point it at his property and prevent them from hosting loud weddings in a residential area.

Image of Gabriel Aronson getting his ear chewed off by a right-thinking dog is ©2019 MichaelKohlhaas.Org and is, to some extent, related to this lil pix over here!

1. Here’s a screenshot of the whole thread, and it’s reproduced in html below.