#Vigilante Justice

[the-tumblur-searchbar]

REBLOGING TO NOT LET THIS DIE

the edit itself

this edit is getting taken down from tiktok every time someone reuploads it, its straight up censorship at this point

Im not even american but im having a great time with this

DONT LET THIS DIE

credit to miraculousgastropod for the original

[davidaugust]

[mitsmebinch]

beautiful line up tumblr. good job

[surfium]

Why are we surprised at vigilante justice in America? Seems like a feature and not a bug to me

[mckitterick]

(remember, in this court system suspects are innocent until proven guilty, so it could have been anyone disgusted by our health-insurance system who pulled the trigger)

please reblog for greater sample size and all that

Chalk graffiti seen on the sidewalk in West Village, NYC

[saggernooseai]

[suppotato123]

Hey can we please stop fucking threatening the McDonald’s employee who snitched on Luigi Mangione? The cops offered a huge fucking reward for his capture that they literally did not pay. The McDonald’s worker is getting just as screwed as all of us. They’re not a “class traitor” they’re a person who was just trying to do the right thing, and maybe have some extra cash in this shithole of an economy. Like it’s fine to be sympathetic to Luigi, and understanding of his motives, but threatening a fucking McDonald’s worker is not fucking helping his cause or anyone else’s.

[bookdenofsin]

He's so

✨️Babygirl✨️

[cyber-geist]

Fanart for Vigilante Justice by AppleScentedLazers on Ao3. I've been reading this fic since before I had ao3 and was on fanfiction.net so frankly this fanart is way overdue. These three sketch page/art page references took me a hot sec but they were well worth the effort hope you all like!

[symphonicdemise]

"Perhaps it's time a new list was made. Of everyone who sends hateful things to those who are undeserving."

[eeriansadowtwopointoh]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Jazz (Transformers), Optimus Prime Additional Tags: Arguments, mentions of past character death, Mentions of canon typical violence, References to Sexual Assault Series: Part 2 of Best Served Cold Summary:

Optimus is angry about the lengths Jazz is willing to go to in order to protect his mechs. Too bad.

[ballinandcantgetup452]

Can we stop calling The Punisher a hero?

I'm sick and tired of the glorification of The Punisher. Frank Castle is a sick man whose happy place is being in a war and it doesn't really matter what or who he's warring against. He never started this crusade for revenge. If it was for revenge, then he would've gone home like 3 weeks in to Punishering it up.

Frank Castle is not a hero. He’s not some tough-as-nails, misunderstood anti-hero. He’s not some tough teeth gritting vigilante with a heart of gold. You're thinking of Wolverine. No, he’s a murderer. Plain and simple. That’s his whole thing. That’s what he does. That’s all he does. He doesn’t fight for justice, he doesn’t save people; he kills. And yet, people still put him on this twisted pedestal, like he’s the symbol of the moral gray and justification. And I’m so sick of it.

Yeah, sure, this is the Marvel Universe, where logic bends, where guys in tights throw buildings and teenagers can swing between skyscrapers like it’s no big deal. Ethics get fuzzy when you have gods and mutants and billionaire playboys. But what Frank does goes beyond all of that. Because Frank Castle is a bad man. A sick man. A man whose entire life is wrapped up in a never-ending war he never really wanted to end.

He lives in a van or warehouse full of guns and weapons, and he’s still out there, free, because he's too violent, too ruthless for anyone to deal with. Nobody stops him. Nobody can truly stop him. Not because he's some anti-hero with a tragic backstory. Once again, you're thinking of Wolverine. It's because he's a walking, talking, killing machine who’ll unload a clip in your face before you even think about it. People think he’s a badass. They think he’s cool. No. He’s a psychopath. A man who is only happy and defines himself by being in the middle of a war.

Don’t get me wrong; I like the character. I really do. But, I read his comics the way you might watch a true crime documentary about Jeffrey Dahmer. You’re not rooting for Dahmer. You’re horrified by him. But you’re fascinated. You’re trying to understand what makes a person tick when their clock is so broken. That’s The Punisher. There’s something raw, something almost cathartic about watching one man wage his own war against crime with no empathy, no mercy, just a hell of a lot of ultraviolence. And yeah, everyone gets in that mood every once in a while.

But here’s what gets me: people out there, actual people, glorify this. They paint his skull on their cars, their jackets, their walls. They act like he’s some kind of symbol of tough love or real justice. But Frank Castle would hate that. He’s said it himself — "Captain America would love to have you. I would not." He despises anyone who sees him as a role model because he knows what he is. He’s not confused. He’s not conflicted. He’s not trying to be a better person. One more time, you're thinking of Wolverine. Frank Castle is a monster.

And he knows it.

So let’s call it out. Call out the people who put Frank Castle on a pedestal like he’s something to aspire to. You wanna read a tough teeth gritting vigilante? Go read Frank Miller’s Batman or Daredevil. You want someone morally gray, someone who actually grapples with the weight of what they do? Check out Moon Knight. But if you want to peer into the mind of a deeply broken, deeply dangerous man, then yeah, read The Punisher. Just don’t fool yourself into thinking he’s anything other than what he is: a guy who likes to kill people, who lives to kill people, and who’s damn good at it.

Frank Castle is not a hero. And he never will be.

[sucha-coolcat]

I had such a weird dream involving Awsten Knight.

I work at a restaurant and my company was catering some corporate event in Texas (I am in a different state. We also don’t carter events and I’m pretty sure we would never fly out to do so but whatever, we were in Texas). The corporation invited the staff to stay at said event and sit in on the presentation. This presentation was in a church-like venue where there was an aisle in between fold out chair seating. As this presentation is happening, Awsten Knight in a neon green hoodie walks in the aisle and stops right next to me and drops something. I, following Awsten Knight, recognize him immediately and know exactly what he’s doing.

Ever since Luigi assassinated that CEO, Awsten has been calling for vigilante justice. He has been walking into big corporate events and meeting and dropping stink bombs. He has been tracking this on his social media in quickly deleted posts. However, because I’m deep in the fandom trenches, I either see it immediately or afterwards in a screenshot. I didn’t see that he would be at this particular event, so I was surprised. But as soon as I see him, I knew what he was up to.

Quickly, I got up from my seat and started heading to the back of this church-like event space to the doors. Awsten follows me and grabs me asking what I was doing. I whisper how I know who he is and I don’t want to be here when everything goes down. He puts his arm around my shoulder, and the two of us speed run to the doors. He’s covering my mouth, assuming I would scream of something. But the stick bomb is on his hand! It’s gross!

One of my coworkers is following us. He’s acting relatively normal. Awsten is paranoid and for some reason thinks the thing to do is pick me up on his shoulders as we run down the steps (I don’t know how this happened, but I am not complaining). As he runs with me, I see my coworker just wanted a cigarette and starts smoking it outside, I wave to him. He nods back. Awsten gets me in this super fancy car, NOT a cyber truck, but a decked out SUV.

The driver drives, and Awsten and I sit in the back. I tell him I’m a big fan. He starts hitting on me, I blush. He has acne scars for some reason, and bright green eyes. It’s still Awsten tho.

That’s pretty much the end, I remember the conversation but it’s kind of irrelevant to the plot. He does agree to take me to the airport and pay for my ticket home after I tell him how can’t go back to my coworkers after I just left them to deal with the aftermath of the stink bomb.

I thought it was fun and I think Awsten trying to fix things with vigilante justice is so on character for him and so funny.

[cazort]

Leftist, antiracist activists like to criticize the police, but something even scarier than police brutality and corruption has been happening in the community near me.

There is a significant portion of the population in suburban Delaware that harbors both deeply racist views, and anti-police sentiment. These people tend to have far-right views and a deeply punitive mindset; Delaware is a "blue state" and has been relatively progressive about its police policies, moving away from overly punitive policing in recent years.

And some people are irate about it. There are social media posts complaining about out of control crime.

This is woefully out-of-touch with what is actually going on. Delaware had a record low rate of violent crime in 2023, following a brief, temporary surge during the pandemic. Delaware has reduced their prison population too. Statewide total crime has also decreased from 2018 through 2022 as reported by the state, with the largest decrease in drug offenses and a relatively smaller decrease in property crime.

People though have started posting stuff on social media with blurry pictures of people from doorbell cameras, dash cams, and other low-quality cameras. Most of the people in the photos are children or young teenagers. Some of them are employees at work just ringing people's doorbells for presumably valid reasons, such as utility workers, county tax assessers, or delivery people. Occasionally people post photos catching people in the act of a crime, like breaking into a car or damaging property.

A lot of the photos are so blurry it would be hard to definitively ID someone from them, and thus easy to mistake someone's identity. And they're sharing these things on social media and calling for a sort of vigilante justice. And predictably, most of the people being targeted are dark-skinned, which is significant because Delaware is overwhelmingly (65%+) non-hispanic white. It's obvious that these posts are tainted by racism.

When a crime is involved, a lot of people suggest to go to the police, but any time the police are brought up, people start trash talking the police. "The police don't do anything". "Cops are useless." and stuff like that. People are really angry and irate and viciously attack anyone who advocates going to the police.

There is this idea that the police do nothing and the only way to deal with crime is to "take things into your own hands". I don't even know what these people want, because they won't come out and say it, but it's really scary. People are talking about circulating people's pictures, calling them "criminals" and that they need to be "punished". Many of these people, from their other posts, are open about owning guns.

When people talk about defunding the police or abolishing the police, I think it's important to ask the question of what will take their place. As corrupt an institution as the police in the US are, I think it's important to remind ourselves that there can be things worse than the police, and that sometimes, in a power vacuum, whatever institution self-organizes may be worse than the one that existed before.

One of my ancestors was killed by lynching in the south, because he was seen as sympathizing with the Union in the civil war. I also have directly experienced harassment in public for being gender-non-conforming, and also a slew of antisemitic hate comments online targeting me because of my Jewish name, and also sometimes because of my political stances.

I know where this leads and it's not good. People like me (and probably you, reading this) are vulnerable. I belong to multiple groups that would be targeted if vigilante violence became a thing.

I'm white, a US citizen, and relatively well-off. I can't even imagine how much more vulnerable black and other dark-skinned people, immigrants, and poor people would be than myself. But I know they are going to be even more vulnerable.

Take from this what you will. I can tell you what my take is:

We as a society have a deep need to root out both racism and the punitive mindset, and achieving these goals is much more than just moving away from formal policing.

Removing the institution of the police while retaining the racism and the punitive mindset risks devolving into a hellscape of vigilante justice shaped by racism and other biases

In the interim, a functional, even if flawed, police system, with some semblance of respecting due process, is a better status quo than a completely broken or absent police in which vigilante justice (with no due process) takes hold

This is why I am hesitant of rhetoric that universally demonizes the police or calls for immediate or full police abolition. A lot of people see police abolition as a leftist take, but as my recent experience shows, this movement may find an unlikely and unhealthy ally in far-right sentiments, and there is a huge danger in allowing these sentiments to take hold.

When elements of abolition (such as decarceration and decriminalization) take hold, it often strengthens far-right anti-police sentiment, because people start seeing the police as allied to the left, which is ironic because the left often still sees the police as allied to the right.

I haven't seen anyone in police abolition circles talking at all about these occurrences, let alone propose any solutions.

If we want to achieve police abolition, we need a path forward that keeps these unsavory elements under control. And I'm struggling to see that path, which is one thing that makes me think we may need to put the brakes on some of the boldest pushes of the abolition movement.

[dailymtgflavortext]

It begins as a whisper and ends with the red roar of fire.

-Vigilante Justice

[surfium]

So conservatives only love rebels when they're fighting for the confederacy huh?