I believe the words you are searching for is Emerson’s line: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,” in order to dismiss questions of your moral dissonance.
It’s easy to preach about judgment and mercy when you’re a fictional character in a universe with an explicitly Christian cosmology and the moral of the story is that all things occur because God wills them to occur for the sake of a greater good.
Which he didn’t do for fun and is much different than what he was specifically arguing against-when he said those words: the deliberate murder of a relatively helpless being.
I’m not arguing that the health care system is great or that Thompson may not have been a heartless asshole. I’m arguing that glorifying or condoning his murder is wrong. I understand Luigi’s reasoning and desire to do so, but it was an ineffective and barbaric act.
I had to write a paper on the lynching of a man named John Carter here in Little Rock in 1927. What I found was that you are right, when asked why lynching was necessary participants often cited a lack of confidence in a legal system designed for civilized people to deal with Negroes. What we’re seeing in the case of Mangione is something similar. People do not trust the system to protect their interest. Instead they see CEOs of health care companies as being the ones protected while destroying the lives of others.
I’m a little disturbed by how indifferent I was to the murder of another human being. I understand why a lot of other people view Mangione as a hero and it should be a wakeup call for all of us because things are going to get much, much worse if we don’t do something. I’m not advocating for more violence, but if you told me an angry mob ripped apart employees working for DOGE I’d just shrug my shoulders and say, “Eh, that tracks.”
Don’t know if it was JFK who said something about those who make peaceful change impossible making violent revolution inevitable.
They’ll never say that health-insurance companies and providers ripping off patients is a good thing, but they will fight tooth and nail against anything to reform the system, and say “violence is not the answer” when violence is the only thing left.
A comedian named Bill Burr suggests that billionaires ought to be dealt with in a manner akin to rabid dogs. Though, at least rabid dogs will not last long but billionaires usually will.
Cool, so it’s open season on abortion providers, gender affirming care providers, and a whole list of others that are part of systems that other folks think need ‘’‘reforming’‘’?
Where’ve you been? It’s been open season on those people for decades now. The time for clutching pearls about norms and civility is over. This country is doomed if we keep bringing copies of Robert’s Rules of Order to gunfights.
It’s the world we live in whether we like it or not. We can either fight for what we know is right or we can have “We had the moral high ground” inscribed on our headstones.
Oh, wow, you got me. I’m a hypocrite because I believe that it’s OK to use violence for causes I believe in but not ones I don’t! And that’s the worst thing it’s possible to be! I better reexamine my entire worldview right away.
Hey, remember how Republicans opposed executive orders when Obama and Biden used them, and supported them when Trump used them? And remember how when we pointed that out, they immediately acknowledged the error of their ways and demanded that Trump stop trying to legislate by executive order?
No? That’s because that never happened, because Republicans don’t give a shit if you think they’re hypocrites, and they’re wiping the floor with us because we’re forcing ourselves to fight with one hand tied behind our back. Luigi Mangione accomplished more for the cause of health industry reform than any number of furrowed brows or sit-ins or sternly worded op-eds are capable of.
Thank you, it’s nice when moral monsters self identify.
Also, not violence Smapti, say it with me, ‘It’s OK to murder for causes I believe in but not ones I don’t.’ stop trying to not be the best worst you you are.
I’d rather be a “moral monster” in a world where people are free and corporate abuse is punished appropriately than a saint in a world where everyone Donald Trump hates is dead.
If Luigi had shot Hitler, would that have been murder?