Things politicians and pundits say about death

To celebrate or not: Brian Thompson vs al-Baghdadi

This my response to Taylor Lorenz getting grilled on Hannity, in defense of the answer she didn’t give: "good riddance.”

Reaction to Brian Thompson’s Death

I went digging and look what I found:

Former U.S. President George W. Bush,

this momentous achievement marks a victory for America, for people who seek peace around the world, and for all those who lost loved ones

Former U.S President Bill Clinton,

profoundly important moment for people all over the world who want to build a common future of peace, freedom, and cooperation for our children

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,

overwhelmed with gratitude and continue[s] to be amazed at what our [Luigi] has achieved

Geraldo Rivera on Fox News,

He’s a schmuck. He’s a bum. He’s a killer. […] We hate him. […] Happy days. Happy days everybody. This is the greatest. This is the greatest night of my career.

Oops, that was Osama bin Laden

Except of course it wasn’t Thompson’s death that these politicians and pundits were rejoicing in. It was Osama bin Laden.

You know what no one took into account? Osama bin Laden’s 20-26 children and his three wives. Why did not a single person bemoan the death of this family man? It’s almost as if nothing about having kids means you’re a good person. For comparison, Thompson had only two kids: that’s less 10% the amount of kids. But yet, this is supposed to change our narrative? And he had only one wife, that’s two whole wives away from Osama bin Laden.

And it’s not just the public that doesn’t care about the dead’s family life, our judicial system doesn’t care either. Capital punishment is available to prosecutors at the federal level. Luigi Mangione himself is facing the death penalty. That charge would remain even if Luigi had fathered children — it’s not even taken into account.

The Reaction to Thompson’s death

Compare that to this cringe worthy response to Brian Thompson’s death by Sean Hannity where he tries to grill Taylor Lorenz,

What part of this United Healthcare CEO being a father and a husband don’t you understand? And what part of you having a choice of what healthcare provider you choose to deal with or not do you not understand? You don’t have to go with United. You don’t have to go with Blue Cross.

More central, Hannity uses this recurring theme about “feeling joy” as if it’s some kind of gotcha.

Why would any human being with a conscious and soul be joyful over an assassination of any person? Why would anyone be joyful over that?

That’s what I want to look at here.

The Morality of Taking Joy in Brian Thompson’s Death

I don’t care whether or not people refuse to celebrate the death of others. If you don’t, that’s fine; but, I don’t think you’re better than me. Celebrating the death of evil people is pretty core to humanity. Judaism has Purim where Jews eat (Hamantaschen) cookies that are symbolic of the dead King Haman’s ears. In the UK they have Guy Fawkes Night where they burn an effigy to the man they’re responsible for killing. Good Friday is basically celebrating Jesus’s death, lest you confuse that with his rebirth — it’s celebrated a few days later with Easter.

The logic of this is pretty simple too,

• If you can celebrate any task being completed.

• And if death can be the completion of a task.

• You can celebrate death!

All the same rules apply whether in the case of punishment, or as a precursor to reincarnation. People like Sean Hannity understand this. They’re just disingenuous. Here was Hannity’s reaction to al-Baghadi’s death.

“Baghdadi was no scholar. He was a radical Islamic extremist, an evil as S.O.B.," Hannity said. "He got cornered by members of the toughest, greatest military heroes on the face of this Earth and then blew himself up like the coward he is. And Baghdadi is, I'm pretty certain, rotting in hell as we speak."

And good on Hannity. He’s spot on there. Why would anyone want to deny someone the ability to celebrate the death of the leader of ISIS? The same can said for the above quotes about Osama bin Laden.

However, I felt joy in Thompson’s death too. What’s wrong with that? It’s not like any of these guys mentioned faced a criminal trial. They’re all extrajudicial assassinations. As if I can’t sing to the same tune, and simply talk about whether or not someone’s death makes the world a better place, and if so, celebrate it. Don’t fall into this trap of letting conservatives tone police you. Don’t play into it. They’re all triggered and spewing this reactionary Christian virtue signaling nonsense. Humanity is replete with its celebrations of the deaths of evil doers. Double down. Personally, I feel joy when all bad people die. Brian Thompson was a bad person. He was a killer. He had kids. I feel bad for his kids, and the kids of all parents who kill. However, in the boldest way possible,

While for legal reasons I would never encourage vigilantism and don’t even believe Luigi did it, I took the greatest amount of joy legally permitted in Thompson’s death. Good riddance.