<p><pre><code> > Vigilantism is always wrong.
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We need to stop saying this. No one believes it. While I wholeheartedly believe this is correct in this instance (Luigi Mangione should not be celebrated for shooting Brian Thompson), there are instances where it is. While you should not go back in time to kill Hitler, we sure see a war to stop him as not only justifiable but honorable. When the rule of law fails, there has to be some other option. There are king killers we revere just as king killers we condemn.<p>We should stop saying this because we can be nuanced. It's okay to have edge cases. There are circumstances where it is justified to run a red light or abandon a truck trailer. All rules are made to be broken, because no rule can be perfectly specified. Language is limited and time marches on. It does no good to continue saying this, in this way.<p>Vigilantism is __rarely__ justified, and this is not an instance where it is. But we also must admit that this instance has sparked a larger national conversation. One that was going on for a long time but was routinely quickly quenched. This action catalyzed the conversation and gave it much more fire. __THIS__, I feel deeply uncomfortable with. There's certainly ways to do this same thing without killing a person (even an evil person), and I would hope that we can do better as a society to do that (you, me, and everyone. Not just "them", "US"). We shouldn't need to kill someone to have a real conversation, to solve problems, to get angry, to make change. It's here and I don't want to kill that conversation now that it has catalyzed, but neither do I want that to be the lesson learned from this. Because if it is, then vigilantism is justified much more often, and __that__ is not something we want. That is precisely how we end up creating the reality that everyone wants to avoid when they say "vigilantism is _always_ wrong."<p>This is a sensitive topic, and I think we should be careful. There's always ways to misinterpret others, especially if you try. But it is hard to listen, to see past the words, and find the intent. It is easier to fight and pick sides, especially when we're on the same one, than it is to actually solve problems. Problems that are complex, nuanced, and need deep understanding and care to resolve. It is easy to make them simple and pick tribes on that. Many of us want the same end goal, and we can do better by focusing on that. If we reach an impasse, so be it, but we should at least try.