Most people, of all political stripes, probably like to think that they’re opposed to violence. However, it would appear that quite a few people also find it easy to find occasional exceptions to that rule.
Take, for instance, a pair of cases currently in the news, both centered in New York City. In one case, United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down in the streets of Manhattan outside of a hotel where his company was to hold a shareholder meeting. The shooter fled the scene but a man suspected of the crime was arrested in Pennsylvania, after a five-day manhunt.
The other case is that of Daniel Penny, a man who, on a New York City subway train in 2023, choked out a man named Jordan Neely, a homeless, mentally ill individual who had been harassing people on the train. Penny’s criminal trial wrapped up this week, with one criminal count dismissed after the jury deadlocked and the jury acquitting Penny on the other count.
maybe we are in the gilded age: half of the mob cheering for a business tycoon being shot by an anarchist, the other being like “i do declare, as a white lady, the subway lynching made me feel so much safer”
— John Ganz (@lionel_trolling) December 6, 2024
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The cases have been instructive when it comes to who finds certain lives have value. The killing of Thompson has led a great many people to find various degrees of sympathy with his shooter, mostly driven by their own negative experiences with the health insurance industry, and that was even before the alleged shooter turned out to be a handsome man with an uncommonly colorful Internet footprint. Others have found such sympathies to be deeply unsavory and wondered what would drive someone to feel that way.
Meanwhile, especially some on the right, Penny is not an accused murderer but rather a hero, and his facing criminal jeopardy at all a sign of serious cultural decline. Others, meanwhile, have found the valorization of Penny, who committed a violent act live on video, utterly callous.
A Fox News segment on Monday brought that contrast into sharp focus:
Ingraham: The instagram posts from nut bag people ..people celebrating. This this is a sickness, honestly, it’s so disappointing, but I guess we shouldn’t be surprised.. up next, the other big news out of New York, Daniel Penny, a lot of people think he is a hero. pic.twitter.com/DRi5d1QNTv
— Acyn (@Acyn) December 10, 2024
On Laura Ingraham’s show, she denounced unnamed “Instagram posts from nut bag people,” celebrating the death of the health care CEO and calling the alleged shooter “cute,” which she described as a “sickness.” Ingraham then immediately pivoted to previewing the next story: “Daniel Penny- a lot of people think he’s a hero, and tonight he’s not guilty.”
It was, as many people noticed, quite a contrast.
Truly incredible work – going from ripping people who praised the guy that killed a CEO straight into praising the guy that killed a homeless black man. No words. https://t.co/TgcCP3YYWo
— Make potato cannons great again (@IsItBait) December 10, 2024
Photo courtesy of Political Tribune media library.
