Vigilantism

"We must all fear evil men, but what we must fear most is the indifference of good men" Father McKinley, Scene 1, Boondock Saints. A vigilante is someone who stands up for the poor and innocent when the government fails to- and someone who upholds the law in a righteous manner by taking it into his or her own hands. The Boondock Saints really showed this by the two McMannus brothers going out and killing all of the mobsters and gang bangers in South Boston.

I've always idolized vigilantes because they stand out from a world where indifference is so common, where people just sit and watch while someone gets brutally murdered and don't do so much as call the cops. Much like the Batman series, none of the civilians want the presence of a vigilante. But I feel like a vigilante is necessary in modern day society where the police take 20 minutes to get to a scene where someone is being beaten to death or where a rapist or murderer is being let out of jail just to go back to doing what they did before. With a handful of vigilantes collaborating in one city crime rates would go down a lot. Though vigilantism is illegal it has been recorded back to the 1800's with acts like the Boston tea party and the Underground Railroad.

In my opinion, a good vigilante is one who is not lead by their emotion, but by their logic, and have to have a good sense of morals. One who is lead by their emotion might kill an innocent man because of a heat of passion or because of some personal conflict with them. So therefore a vigilante who is lead by their emotion is corrupt. A vigilantie with a bad sense of morals might kill a man who is not deserving of death or let a deserving man go.

In Boondock Saints, Joe Yakavetta, a big mob boss is on trial for the death of countless numbers of people, possession and distribution of many drugs, and other criminal activities. There is not enough evidence for him to be convicted under the court of law, so he is going to walk. The Boondock Saints come in, mid trial, and publicly execute him. One life may not be worth another, but how about one life being worth 6 or 7 people? I think that person is deserving of death. I strongly support the Boondock Saints and any other vigilante doing some good out there, and I myself might possibly become one.