this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2026
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I 100% agree with your first sentence. That is exactly the reason why I gave the answer of Luigi Mangioni.
That's what I want though. I would rather those who hold a monopoly of violence to go after people I want to be gone after. However, those who hold the monopoly of violence go after people they deem appropriate. If those who hold the monopoly of violence go after people I want I am against vigilantism but if they don't I will support any act of vigilantism that goes after people I want but not acts of vigilantism that don't.
Luigi Mangioni showed me an instance where I supported the ends (retribution against health insurance CEOs) over means (proper monopoly of violence). If you only follow means rather than ends exclusive than those who control the means and choose which means you follow will choose the ends you will arrive at. Why would I give away the ends prematurely and have someone else define it, probably for their own benefit?
What you wrote is not new.
It was written and critiqued for a long time both in Western and Eastern philosophies of statecraft.
See Thomas Hobbes' Laviethan and the Chinese mandate of heaven:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_(Hobbes_book)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandate_of_Heaven
Vigilantism encompases all non state violence, both organised and anarchy. It includes (un)organised political terrorism (Luigi Mangione) and personal vendettas. You make no distinction between the two in your response.
This is why I agree with the first sentence. To say that all vigilante violence leads to poorer conditions for the poor is wrong. People can agree with a subset of non-state violence and disagree with another subset.