A Minnesota man may face charges for chasing, shooting and killing another man Thursday. But he hasn’t been arrested yet, and some are calling him a “Good Samaritan.”
According to Minneapolis ABC affiliate Eyewitness News, the man passed by an attempted armed robbery in a grocery store parking lot. The robber pistol-whipped a woman and tried to take her purse.
The man passing by had a gun, and he used it. He pursued the robber into an alleyway, where he shot and killed him.
There’s some question about who pulled a gun first whether the man acted in self-defense. The headline of one article on Minneapolis news station Kare 11’s website sums up the debate.
It read, “Self defense or vigilante justice?” Is this man a hero or a killer? Both?
There are big moral questions. When is it right to shoot someone? Is it right to kill someone in the name of justice?
And then there’s the question: What problems did this man solve? Those who applaud his actions could note that Minneapolis crime rates won’t change much. No big-picture good has been done; no root evil has met defeat.
But there is the little-picture good. In the end, the woman was neither killed nor robbed, perhaps thanks to the “Samaritan.”
The differing perspectives here demonstrate more than just local news debate. They offer insight into social perceptions of death on a global scale.
When the news of Muammar Gaddafi’s death broke, many worldwide reacted with celebration. Libya’s new governing body announced the “national liberation” of Libya.
In May, word of Osama bin Laden’s death gave birth to similar cheer. From my spot inside Memorial Union, I could hear cheers echoing across campus.
But whenever celebration accompanies death, questions accompany that celebration.
Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald questioned President Barack Obama’s bin Laden proud announcement, asking how “our ability to hunt someone down, pump bullets into his skull and then dump his corpse into the ocean” signifies American greatness.
But regardless of your perspective on the death-isn’t-justice argument, questions of logic still warrant consideration. It could be right, it could be wrong — but does it even make sense to cheer over death?
After all, Bin Laden’s death didn’t exactly end an era. Sure, the mastermind behind one evil plot is gone.
But from what we know of terrorist groups, they operate in cells. The death of one leader means little to other cells united under the same cause.
Anti-American sentiment still runs amok — perhaps even more for retaliation.
And it’s much the same with Gaddafi’s death. A man called evil by many is dead, but picket fences didn’t spring up around Libya that day.
In mid-September, The Guardian reported that Libya’s new governing body’s “failure to reach agreement appears to reflect divisions that are casting a shadow over the post-revolutionary political landscape.”
The future is still cloudy. Humans may love the simplicity that comes with symbolic deaths.
But aside from a boost of morale, the death of one never means too much.
Reach the columnist at algrego1@asu.edu
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