A man in Philadelphia was recently brutally and mercilessly beaten to death by an angry mob seeking revenge after he attempted to steal a vehicle with children inside.
The kids were not harmed. But in a bid to escape, the thief allegedly assaulted the father who had managed to catch up to the suspect on foot after the stolen vehicle ended up stuck in traffic.
A large crowd subsequently gathered and intervened, ultimately leading to the perpetrator’s murder.
While this was a violent act of vigilantism, some people would go so far as to calling this “street justice.”
But make no mistake.
There is absolutely no justice to be found in the actions of what amounts to be little more than a bloodthirsty lynch mob that acts as judge, jury and executioner.
There is nothing right about beating to death someone who has been subdued and is no longer a threat.
While the suspect’s actions were without question completely inexcusable, people don’t generally turn to such crime for any reason other than desperation.
The man obviously had some serious lapses in judgment, but now he’ll never get a chance to make amends or redeem himself. Not sure he — or anyone, for that matter — deserved to pay with his life in such a brutal manner when the mob could easily have restrained him until police could take him into custody.
Even in our own backyard, there is no shortage of social media comments in response to crime stories from people who apparently fully support the “shoot, shovel and shut up” approach to dealing with petty criminals.
Surely most people shudder to think of stories from the Middle East about mobs angrily beating someone to death.
We cannot self-righteously condemn similar violence in faraway nations that many of us denigrate while condoning or making excuses for such atrocities so close to home.
Cold-blooded vengeance should never be mistaken for anything that even resembles justice.
I cannot help but be reminded of something said by famous author J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings character Gandalf.
“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.”
