A worthwhile article about our relationship with vigilantism: " Some Other America, One I Do Not Know"
Some people are very upset about the public reaction to the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The killing has generated horror, but also mocking memes, a wave of hostility towards the healthcare industry, and rhetoric that stops barely short of calling the murder justified.
The Washington Post calls it a “sickness,” saying “those who excuse or celebrate Mr. Thompson’s killing reveal an ends-justify-the-means sentiment that is flatly inconsistent with stable democracy” and that “most Americans probably reject this kind of thinking.” The Yale School of Management calls it “very un-American.” My friend David French says that online “activism is attracting some of the most cruel and self-righteous people in America. There’s a remarkable lack of grace and compassion.”
With the greatest respect to these worthies — well, at least to David — I am not familiar with the America they’re talking about.
America is largely aspirational. We talk big and then, more or less, sometimes strive towards goals like justice, equality, decency. Many people are willing to put their shoulder to the wheel of those aspirations even in the face of the many ways America falls short. I’ve written about a formative experience I had as a young lawyer: attending a naturalization ceremony for Filipino World War II veterans who still exulted to become Americans even after America had betrayed them for decades. Those men still believed in the promise of America despite so many years of broken promises. Many of our greatest citizens have worked to better this country even as it has treated them as less than full Americans or even less than human.
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https://www.popehat.com/p/some-other-america-one-i-do-not-know
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