Without security, there is anarchy. And where there is anarchy, the state can command neither legitimacy nor respect.
Arguably, the greatest indictment of leftism is its preference for the vagrant and the criminal over the law-abiding citizen and victim. In politics, there are all kinds of disagreements about the role and scope of the state, but the one thing the state must do is protect the innocent.
Without security, there is anarchy. And where there is anarchy, the state can command neither legitimacy nor respect. Yet racial idolaters on the Left have pushed society to forgo basic expectations of public order and civilized conduct. Demanding anything more than day-to-day chaos would be cruel to “marginalized” people like deranged homeless black men on the subway.
The Left has a warped infatuation with society’s most entitled, recalcitrant, and destructive elements. Their latest martyr is a lunatic named Jordan Neely, who was killed while threatening commuters in Manhattan on Monday morning. The man, portrayed by sympathetic media as a “Michael Jackson impersonator,” was throwing garbage at people and making vaguely threatening statements about his willingness to go to prison for life. A reasonable person would feel afraid in this situation, as passengers doubtless did. A heroic vigilante intervened and put Neely in a chokehold. Two other men helped restrain Neely, who later died.
Seldom is the line between civilization and savagery drawn so clearly as it was in Jordan Neely’s subway car. The Left has demonized the vigilante for his “barbaric” supposed “lynching,” but this gets it precisely backward. Barbarism on the subway is a daily occurrence; it is part of the atmosphere. Barbarism is forcing commuters to fear for their lives and property on a Monday morning. It’s what you call it when vagrants shove people to their deaths in front of moving trains, and all the state can do is shrug.
In places like New York City, criminals are a protected class. Just days ago, a homeless man stabbed a commuter with an ice pick. Jordan Neely himself had 42 prior arrests and an open warrant for assaulting a 67-year-old woman at the time of his death. He is widely reported to have been a menace to the safety of others, in short, a net negative on society.
Jordan Neely had no business being on the street. Only a deranged society would treat such a man like an equal.
But rather than permit the “injustice” of locking up violent blacks, governments in places like New York empower criminals to terrorize innocents. This is called “social justice,” and it’s happening everywhere.
Roving caravans of “youths” in Chicago regularly riot and loot with impunity. The city wrings its hands over a lack of “resources” in the hood and stages ineffectual “awareness” campaigns. Civilized society is extorted, literally and morally. Philadelphia recently paid off rioters who were tear-gassed while blocking highways during the George Floyd riots.
No matter how bad it gets, no matter how many people get hurt, it will never be enough to satisfy the Left. They will always find a way to justify the criminals and blame the real victims, whose cries for justice are drowned out by the endless wailing of black entitlement. We are often told that the politics of “white grievance” is transforming America into some kind of authoritarian state, but the opposite is true. We are racing into the ghetto.
It is impossible to have civilization when it is a crime to hold members of a protected class accountable for their conduct. In Manhattan on Monday, justice momentarily took the reins away from “social justice.” The normal course of state-sanctioned disorder was disrupted by a brave onlooker, who very well could have ignored the threat, like most commuters have been conditioned to do. Instead, he chose to act at great risk to his safety, reputation, and freedom. It would be surprising if he is not hanged, drawn, and quartered for doing the right thing. He is a...
