It's a story of two naked cities. As many know, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione assassinated United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on the streets of New York City in the early morning hours of December 4th. Also, to the surprise of many, millions hail Mangione as a hero who fought back against a corrupt system. Journalist Taylor Lorenz expressed “delight” over the killing and has donated more than $75,000 to Mangione's defense efforts. (This is for a privileged kid with billionaire parents.)
Just five days later, former Marine Daniel Penny, also 26, was found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Jordan Neely, a drug-addicted and deranged vagrant. Penny helped detain Neely after he threatened people on a New York City subway train on May 1, 2023. Neely's rap sheet listed 42 arrests, but he has since died.
And while some Americans have expressed joy at the acquittal, and a majority likely supports it, millions still want Penny's scalp. Moreover, some observers consider his and Mangione's actions to be morally equivalent. And Mangione's case is particularly interesting because it revealed in neon light a deep and widespread anger against false elites in general and the health care system in particular.
Education, not emotion
Now, the loudest voices here are virtually all driven by passion, and as Ben Franklin pointed out, passion rules, but never wisely. It's also easy to rely on emotions and take sides. In Mr. Mangione's case, it is difficult to remain completely calm without being accused of promoting terrorist desires or displaying a level of psychotic indifference. But given Mr. Mangione's wide support, an intelligent analysis is needed.
For the sake of argument, let's say that those backing Mangione are correct in claiming that health insurance company executives are evil, uniquely destructive people. But the question is: Are actions like Mangione's the cure? In evaluating this, probably the people reading this are not Amish and cannot let go of violence. Virtually all of us believe that acts of violence are justified under certain circumstances. And about the same number would agree that there is a “just war.” With this in mind, a good way to analyze this issue is through the doctrine of just war. (This also applies to individuals who are waging a “war” against the system.)
standard
Depending on which version you refer to, the Just War Doctrine has between four and seven standards. Here is a version of the four elements promulgated by the Catholic Church. As “Learning Religion'' relates, they are:
The damage caused by the aggressor to the state or community of states must be permanent, serious and certain. All other means of ending it must have proven impractical or ineffective. There must be great prospects for success. The use of weapons must not create evils or obstacles greater than the evils to be eliminated.
Now, 4 can probably be discounted as a factor right away. Mangione's actions meet the criteria because they allude to weapons of mass destruction. Next is number one. Will health insurance companies cause “permanent, significant and certain” harm? Some may say yes, but the question is, what would happen if all these businesses disappeared tomorrow?
We will all be paying for our own health care, at least until an alternative system is established. Is this preferable?
But numbers 2 and 3 really tell the story. Exorbitant medical costs are a phenomenon of recent decades. And with the ability to deal with them through the ballot box, which will continue to happen, is the ammunition box warranted? What is the success achieved through acts of violence? This is also not defined. It's also fanciful to think that a guerrilla-like movement would shoot and destroy to reduce health care costs.
Verdict: Mangione's actions do not constitute a just war.
distorted moral compass
But there is something far more alarming than the existence of a rare and bizarre criminal like Mangione. It's that vast numbers of journalists and other supposed “intellectuals” are unable (or unwilling?) to make basic moral distinctions. They don't even know the definition of simple words.
Enter the Nation magazine, founded by abolitionists in 1865, now appears to have abolished reason from its pages. In an article on Friday, the magazine's Caleb Brennan began by calling conservative commentators' analysis of the Mangione and Penny cases “infant brain.” Next, he renders what looks like a bird's brain.
Mr Brennan claimed that both men were “vigilantes who engaged in shocking acts of public violence”. “Their actions are very much open to partisan interpretation,” I believe. The same goes for Hitler and Mao Zedong. Partisans will be partisans.
Brennan joins (of course?) Ja'han Jones of The ReidOut Blog on MSNBC. He also placed the two men on equal footing and complained about the “legitimization of dangerous white vigilantism.” And neither Jones nor Brennan clearly have even an understanding of the sense of caution that comes from Death Wish.
pay attention to the facts
A brief history: “Vigilante” comes from the Latin vigilantem, meaning “watchful, anxious, watchful.” The term was applied to members of any committee in the 19th century that suppressed crime and punished criminals. They were established when local governments were too weak to do their jobs. But importantly, the Vigilance Committee was dealing with actual crimes under the law. They did not ambush businessmen who, in the dark light of some, were “capitalist exploiters.”
By this definition, Mangione is not a vigilante. He's more like a terrorist. Of course, they may be considered vigilantes based on Merriam-Webster's secondary definition of “in a broad sense, a self-styled doer of justice.'' But it's a very broad meaning. As for Penny, he's not like that.
Penny didn't ride the Big Apple subway last May 1 to stop criminals or administer justice. He just wanted to go somewhere. However, an unstable man appears, and Penny and two other riders find it necessary to restrain him for their own safety and that of others. If this makes him a “vigilante,” then anyone who engages in quick self-defense is a vigilante. And calling it a standard baby brain would be a compliment.
think about it carefully
As a preface, I would like to emphasize that I am not advocating violence. I'm just making a point. That means if Mangione's minions truly believe in his actions as a remedy, they'll have to kill a lot of people. And if they think about it for a second, they'll realize that there are more people on their hit list than the CEO of a health insurance company. Why did they realize that many politicians are harming our country far more severely than any businessman, or virtually any businessman?
First of all, many politicians are intentionally sending a large number of illegal immigrants into our country. And every American taxpayer “contributes” $957 a year to support illegal aliens and U.S.-born children. More importantly, Americans fund health care for illegal aliens, amounting to $17 billion a year. That ends the question:
How much cheaper would your health insurance be if you didn't have to pay for the substantial replacement of certain poles, subsidies to voter import plans?
The moral of this story is: Feel less and think more.
