“Defining monstrosity down/a” is a really interesting piece. Rather bluntly, which I like, Jonah Goldberg says that some acts are monstrous, some people are monsters, and we need a way, a word with which, to call them that. Which raises the question, as Goldberg notes, what’s up with friendly characters like Sesame Street or the Muppet’s being “monsters?” Not that it does a huge amount of harm, as he writes:

But, you know, it’s funny. I think we want - and need - a word for monsters. For example, my 2-year-old daughter has never seen a film or a book that would give her the impression monsters as a group are evil, while she’s been inundated with the notion that they’re good and friendly. And yet this lover of “Sesame Street” is still afraid of monsters. She will use the word and ask me to scare them away./blockquote

Still, one wonders…