Photo by Noushad Thekkayil/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Why do so many elites support violent extremism?
I attended a performance last year by a singer-songwriter who writes sophisticated folk-pop tunes. I’m not going to mention her name; you can look it up. To a tango beat she sang a jazzy little number about how “young Luigi Mangione pulled a hit and run, with a ghost of a gun.” As she sang, she pantomimed an assassin standing over a prone victim and firing the kill shot. So clever. Some people clapped and laughed. A few others, including me, walked out.
Earlier this month, “Saturday Night Live” Weekend Update host Michael Che did a bit about President Trump attending the musical “Chicago” at the Kennedy Center. “I think that’s cool that the president is going to the theater,” Mr. Che said. “I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?” Defying the stereotype that Americans don’t remember their history, the “SNL” audience got the joke instantly. And cheered.
And last week, a New York Times opinion podcast featured trendy writer Jia Tolentino and lefty It Boy Hasan Piker in a lighthearted, cold-blooded conversation about crime—an activity they generally favor, as long as it has a “political valence.” Mr. Mangione’s alleged murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson came up here, too. Was it “just a release valve for anger, or is it actually effective political action?” the podcast host wanted to know. Ms. Tolentino expressed frustration that more Democrats haven’t exploited the killing to push “toward universal healthcare.” She also admitted to shoplifting lemons from Whole Foods, an action the host called “microlooting.” It’s a sign of our times that the lemon-lifting discussion prompted more online debate than the group’s offhand tolerance of murder.
You get the picture.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the Wall Street Journal (paywall)
______________________
James B. Meigs is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a City Journal contributing editor.