To paraphrase Thomas Carlyle, heroes provide patterns, dispositions, and actions to emulate. They are “creators” of aspiration, of “whatsoever the general mass of men” aim to “do or attain.” In this sense, heroes are the standard of manhood and nobleness.
Just last week, Psychology Today lamented that men lack role models. Of course, their proposed solution of “rewriting narratives of masculinity” to correct “harmful gender stereotypes” is exactly the kind of psychosis that has feminized men and suppressed any masculine aspiration in them. In other words, the cure for aimless men is to destroy men altogether.
The great books of great men are now framed as antiquarian curiosities, not manuals for conduct. If such literature is suppressed, real-world examples are even harder to come by. What “heroes” men do have left come from the fantasy world of sports and Hollywood. When there is a sighting of a brave, heroic man, it is understandably a bit of a shock, but we know it when we see it, and the enemies of men, vigilantes against “toxic masculinity,” marshal against it. Late liberalism is predicated on conflict avoidance, a luxury product produced by the “Able Man” that then ensures the eradication of his kind. This is what almost happened to Daniel Penny… almost.
A Double Standard of Expectations
I used to live and work in northeast metro areas, the Gilded Age glory of which is totally gone. I stopped using public transit years before I left the region. It was not the state of disrepair or general filthiness nor the danger of encountering deranged and nefarious people late at night so much as it was the realization that any reaction from myself to this environment, no matter how justified, would be prosecuted. It is not just that these places are unsafe, it’s that the average American is not allowed to defend himself; he must endure violence and watch others endure it with studied reservation and passivity.
If you get on public transit, especially with a family, and someone begins harassing or threatening you, your options are to either take it or stop it. Most people sensibly opt for the former given that the latter will probably carry jail time and public disdain with it. The third option is to simply avoid such public places altogether, a sad fact of American life in our ill-managed cities.
The case of Daniel Penny illustrates this conundrum exactly, the double standard of expectations for public interaction, and the requirement that Americans care for their safety and dignity as little as their betters do.
Until yesterday, Penny was facing charges of second-degree manslaughter and negligent homicide, charges which threatened to put the 26-year-old Penny in prison for 15 years. The manslaughter charge was dismissed last Friday after the jury was deadlocked in deliberation after 20 hours. The jury acquitted Penny on the negligent homicide charge on Monday. The former charge required that Penny killed Neely intentionally without premeditation but also without justification; the latter charge required proof that Penny killed Neely by acting negligently though without malice. Ultimately, the prosecution could prove neither, and for good reason: Penny did neither.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, another George Soros-backed prosecutor, said he would respect the verdict. Others on the left aren’t so sanguine. From the beginning, Penny was demonized, his case racialized. Expect that to continue on the activist left which has also recast Neely as a martyr. Talking heads constantly bemoan diminished trust in civic institutions. Penny’s acquittal could help restore a modicum of confidence in our courts, even in blue states, but that would require the same talking heads to champion Penny’s verdict thereby defying the pieties of their class—don’t hold your breath.
The video of the underlying incident is known to everyone by now. Penny, riding on a New York subway, subdued a man, Jordan Neely, who was harassing and threatening innocent passengers. In now public footage of Penny’s initial interview with the police, he made clear that his intent was to subdue Neely, not hurt him. Neely had a history of mental illness, 42 prior arrests, and an active warrant at the time of his death for alleged assault. Toxicology reports showed that he had synthetic marijuana in his system when he died. The expert witness for Penny’s defense contested the testimony of the New York City medical examiner who had ruled compression of the neck as the sole cause of death. A forensic pathologist for the defense maintained that “the combined effects of sickle cell crisis, the schizophrenia, the struggle and restraint and the synthetic marijuana,” not Penny’s chokehold caused Neely to expire.
Daniel Penny is a Hero
Penny did what we would hope any man, any hero, would do: he protected his fellow citizens from danger. His reward? A senseless and shameful trial both in court and public opinion.
The image of Penny, a former Marine, with Neely locked in a chokehold, was destined to become the next Derrick Chauvin moment. And the left tried to make it just that. Except this time, the American people, battered and bruised, weren’t so gullible or willing.
Much like Kyle Rittenhouse Penny’s case became a culture flashpoint, a microcosm of a corrupt justice system and confused society. While the rest of the country was under medical house arrest, Black Lives Matter burned down the country with impunity. The same BLM that is now calling for “black vigilantes” to take revenge on their “oppressors” in the wake of Penny’s acquittal. Penny also became something of a niche cultural symbol, especially for young men on the right. Memes abound. Penny represents what men should aspire to be, and also what late modernity and our dilapidated regime want to suppress the most. Perhaps, that is changing.
Then there’s the hypocrisy. While illegal immigrants with mile-long rap sheets make bail and avoid prison time, young American men are ruthlessly prosecuted for acting like men in public. That is, for defending the weak and innocent from the chaos, especially in American cities, to which local and national officials orchestrate at worst and turn a blind eye at best.
Maybe the reason the book was thrown at Penny is because his heroism so shamed the people who are supposed to be governing and protecting the citizens of New York. Vigilantism typically emerges out of necessity when authorities are negligent when anarcho-tyranny is employed. That’s the lamentable story of our nation’s largest cities. Our governing class should be ashamed of itself, not of Daniel Penny. Penny’s acquittal is justice, plain and simple. He should have never been charged in the first place but rather received a hero’s welcome from the city. He deserves the Congressional Gold Medal that Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) has promised. Daniel Penny is a hero, and as Auron MacIntyre put it, “the first step to making America great again is honoring brave men.” Indeed, in the wake of Penny’s welcome acquittal, that is the single best way to strike against enemies of the American way of life: by bestowing honor on the kind of men they desperately want to suppress.
