
What Happens When You Punish Heroes?
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Today, Daniel Penny was acquitted on all charges in the case of Jordan Neely. For those not aware, a quick summary is that Jordan Neely acted in a threatening manner on a subway, and Daniel Penny, Marine Corps veteran, subdued him with a chokehold. There are two views as to why Jordan Neely died, the first being that he died from the chokehold itself and the other being a combination of factors, including sickle cell, schizophrenia, and synthetic marijuana.
I’m not here to argue this case; I have no special information available to me and I wasn’t there. I’m just as stuck as everyone else, wondering if the news is true or not.
But it brings up an important point, which is something Daniel Penny defenders have harped on. What happens when we punish someone who stands up for everyone else?
For the purpose of this discussion, I will take as a given that Daniel Penny acted heroically to subdue a threat on the subway. This doesn’t mean that’s what I know happened; it’s just the given for this discussion.
Penny has undergone a year and a half of criticism and legal process for his decision to subdue Jordan Neely. His name has been dragged through the mud, excoriated by pundits and news anchors alike. He’s been called a racist, child-killer, white supremacist, everything you can think of.
So here’s the question. What’s the likelihood he’ll do something heroic next time someone acts crazy on the subway.
I tell you what, it’s WAY less likely.
Now, he’s a Marine, which makes him my boy. I would love to think that a fellow Marine would stand up for what’s right no matter what consequences result, but we need a dose of realism, as well. When you do what’s right and you suffer for it, it’s a massive blow to the gut. There’s no incentive to do the right thing if you’re just going to get pounded.
I mean, look at the classic good guy stories. The hero gets shot at, takes out the bad guys, and gets a kiss from the girl. This is the way we think hero stories should go. But when the story becomes hero gets shot at, takes out the bad guys and undergoes 18 months of laborious legal process while being vilified – no one wants to read that story.
No one wants to LIVE that story.
I appreciate this idea in The Incredibles movie from Pixar. Spoiler alert, in case you still haven’t seen this 15-year-old movie, Mr. Incredible saves a man jumping from a building, and gets sued into oblivion because the man got hurt being saved from killing himself. This takes the winds out of Incredible’s sails and he loses his way for a long period of time.
Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight also has this concept in it, where Batman chooses to allow Harvey Dent’s memory to remain untarnished, and let the cops hunt him. We appreciate this as truly heroic, while also understanding that it is incredibly hard. The ending of that movie is tragic because it’s the sacrifice of recognition and gratitude for the incredible suffering of the hero.
In Batman Begins, the girl says, “I didn’t say thank you.” Batman respond with, “And you’ll never have to.”
In The Dark Knight Rises, we see Bruce Wayne’s medical analysis, and his body is absolutely destroyed from the stress of fighting crime. He did this without thanks or recognition.
This is part of Gideon’s arc in my Shades of Black series. What does the hero do when he does not get to reap any benefits of his heroism? What’s it like when you DON’T get the girl?
It’s such a hard concept, to have a theory of heroism so durable that you can survive being hated for sacrificing yourself. We saw this in history with the Vietnam veterans, who endured unspeakable hell in those jungles to come back to America and be spat on by idiots who had no idea what they went through.
We need to appreciate our heroes, or eventually they’re not going to see the point of doing it anymore. We’re going to be left to the mercies of the evil, the disturbed and the oppressive, and we’re REALLY not going to like that world.
Say thank you to your dad for the hours he works. Do not begrudge the benefits the Afghanistan veteran gets. And if you get waylaid on the subway by a maniac, be thankful if there’s a Marine around who dives in so you don’t have to.