Marc Abear: Journalistic boundaries and encouragement of violence

To The Daily Sun,

At a public appearance with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a credentialed reporter openly argued, Brian Thompson’s death amounted to “social murder.” The point was asserted, Thompson is the moral equivalent of Osama bin Laden, justifying the public execution.

Think about that. Osama Bin Laden was responsible for killing thousands of people. He orchestrated an act of war against a civilian population. That was a war crime under the rules of war. Mr. Thompson was guilty of operating a legal business, within the law. Those things are not equivalents.

Onlookers went further, saying Thompson’s children should “enjoy the blood money.” This shows the disturbing tolerance of violence among Islamo-Marxists. Our media rhetoric is at the level of dehumanization. They now view political opponents as morally outside the protections of the law. Maybe we should stop and consider our direction of travel.

How do journalistic standards allow this as acceptable public commentary? Corporate decision makers are not murderers. Elevating such an idea, their deaths are a form of political justice is dangerous. Media normalizing such rhetoric is very close to encouraging violence.

The charges made against Thompson are complaints about policy choices, maybe systemic failures. They are not about a particular executive’s personal guilt. Treating Thompson as a monster rather than engaging in changing policy is outside the rule of law. We have the rule of law for exactly this reason.

This is no longer an isolated occurrence. Socialism or Islamic reform are not producing better results anywhere in the world and haven’t; ever. All we are establishing is readiness to embrace destructive, coercive tactics when outcomes are disappointing. Our media is moving away from persuasion, toward intimidation as their preferred political tool. They have lost any claim to moral high ground. There is also a need for restraint and respect for life.

Marc Abear

Meredith