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In my view the attempt to demonise Daniel Penny might possibly be the single best example of the type of ‘moral inversion’ that characterises so much of modern progressivism, and that the silent majority rightly detest.

To sympathise more with the convicted criminal on a train threatening to kill other people than with the man who puts his own safety at risk to protect his fellow citizens from that man requires the ideological distortion of almost innate concepts of right and wrong. It rests on the flipping of values that, across time and across societies throughout history, have been near-constant. Most people find this hard to fathom, or stomach.

The predictability of it all is what’s so awful. As soon as the story broke we all knew that moral entrepreneurs on the left would use the case to try and whip up racial grievances. We knew that the same activists who claim to want ‘justice reform’ and who routinely seek/gain reduced sentences for violent killers would demand the harshest sentence possible in this case. We knew that parts of the media would seek to paint the guy who got restrained as a poor, unfortunate soul and probable victim of racism, and would seek to avoid frank discussion of his appalling behaviour.

The cynicism, the hypocrisy, the almost-faith like commitment to ideology over basic decency - all the worst aspects of progressive cultism encapsulated in a single story.

END NOTE: I write notes and articles exploring political groupthink. I have released a series of essays exploring its origins and how it spreads - check them out, they’re on my page, and subscribe to get upcoming ones into your inbox. If you want to support my efforts to push back against it, please consider becoming a paid sub. Comments on this post are open to paid subs only. Thanks.

Dec 7, 2024
at
1:53 PM

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