The Moral Maze of Luigi Mangione

Violence & justice. Chaos & change. There is much for us to ponder.

Words are, of course, important. And in complex matters they are crucial. In the case of Luigi Mangione it is vital for us to consider the differences between the words ‘murderer’ and ‘assassin’.

Both are words of violence. But one is a word born out of chaos and rage and the other is one born out of intention and precision. To be an assassin is to channel the most primal of feelings into a singular action.

And isn’t this the real fascination of Mangione’s story? That he acted not out of madness, but from a sense of justice so sharp it tipped him into becoming the blade.

Nobody wants to live in a society where vigilantes roam the streets enacting forms of self-righteous justice, lawless and chaotic. Hearing that a member of the “public” has been gunned down in the street should give us more than pause about the moral state of our nation. But this singular act is not chaotic at all. Perhaps that’s why I can’t condemn it outright.

At points in my life I have been a run-of-the-mill Christian who believed in just war theory and I’ve also been peacenik Jesus-follower who is an absolutist on pacifism. Violent delights always have violent ends. But I have climbed down a little from the pedestal of total non-violence in recent years. Not much but a little. I have created space in my philosophy for the possibility that to truly oppose the darkest forms of evil, there may come a time I have to fight with more than just words.