Vigilance and Vigilantism

[Fishrrman]

https://www.theepochtimes.com/vigilance-and-vigilantism_4118441.html

Vigilance and Vigilantism
Dinesh D’Souza
November 22, 2021

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Closing excerpt:
In the film, the gunslinger played by John Wayne guns down the outlaw Liberty Valance. The credit for the killing—which is celebrated throughout the town of Shinbone—wrongly goes to the lawyer played by Jimmy Stewart. So in the new America there’s no room for gunslingers, and there are no more thugs like Liberty Valance, who live above or outside the law. There’s only room for slick lawyer types, and, no surprise, Jimmy Stewart goes on to become an influential senator. So the film, in the end, celebrates a triumph over vigilantism.

Even so, the very logic of the film raises a provocative question. What if, following the progression of society from lawlessness to lawfulness, there’s a subsequent regression to lawlessness? That, after all, was the situation in Kenosha the night that Rittenhouse had his confrontation with the Antifa “outlaws.” What if the Antifa thugs are out looting, rioting, and burning, and the police are nowhere to be found—the authorities have implicitly allowed the mayhem—and even the male citizens of Kenosha are cowering in their homes, afraid to take on the Antifa and Black Lives Matter marauders?

In such a situation, I would argue, there’s no alternative, in fact there’s a deep social need for figures like Rittenhouse. We can see this by considering a hypothetical town of Shinbone in which the ruling authorities sanction a new breed of outlaw to loot, riot, and burn down farms, stores, and homesteads. In such a world, sheriffs and deputies exist, but they’ve been instructed to stay away and let the marauding continue. Wouldn’t Shinbone, in such a scenario, once again need the services of John Wayne?

Of course it would. My conclusion, then, is that it’s the absence of law and order that creates the need for vigilante justice. Vigilante justice is crude and imperfect, but it’s still better than no justice at all. It’s still better than anarchy or rampant criminality. If I were Rittenhouse’s parents, I wouldn’t permit my teenager to go to Kenosha. But I would view the matter entirely differently if the adult citizens of Kenosha showed up, together and armed, to prevent the mayhem.

Call them vigilantes. Call them whatever you want. They would, in the absence of the police and the authorities, be the vigilant ones, the thin blue line that protects the community from the barbarism that destroys not only property, but also life and civilization itself. They would be, as Rittenhouse himself was in this broken-down situation, heroes who deserve our respect and gratitude.

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