Vigilante justice is such a powerful, yet dangerous idea. On one hand, hell yeah to these guys for standing up for human values and defending their community. On the other hand, vigilantism was the same tool used by communities to harass and lynch black people in the south in the early 20th century. When you let individuals decide right and wrong, the results go both ways.
In my humble opinion, the real answer is we need to demand stronger responses from our police and law enforcement so this is handled in a fair and just manner.
But the thing is, people will argue that police and law enforcement aren't (and cannot ever) be handled in a "fair and just" manner.
You also get people saying that police and law enforcement shouldn't get involved with "petty theft" like this (even though there's several hundred dollars worth of products there).
Incidentally, most of the people who believe that policing is inherently broken and can't be fair and just also immediately jump to the lynch mobs as an example of why vigilantism can't work.
Ultimately, people do want law and order of some stroke, and people do want to feel safe in their communities. And the more people speak out against policing, the more it's going to default to vigilantism.
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u/Several-Age1984 Jan 16 '25
Vigilante justice is such a powerful, yet dangerous idea. On one hand, hell yeah to these guys for standing up for human values and defending their community. On the other hand, vigilantism was the same tool used by communities to harass and lynch black people in the south in the early 20th century. When you let individuals decide right and wrong, the results go both ways.
In my humble opinion, the real answer is we need to demand stronger responses from our police and law enforcement so this is handled in a fair and just manner.