Anyone for a Mob?

The arrest of the 2 suspects in Monday's killings in Cheshire has me thinking ...

How come we don't see mobs anymore?

Is it that we've become too "civilized" to gather, torches and pitchforks raised, to hold bad people accountable?

Is it civilized to waste time and money and valuable resources to fight sleazy lawyers exploiting loopholes in the penal code just so we can incarcerate vile criminals, clothe them and feed them and give them medical care when we can't even muster the strength to give those things to good, law-abiding folks?

Is it civilized to do that, then have the guys get out on parole and commit more heinous acts even though we put them somewhere where they were to be rehabilitated? (I'm not a big believer in rehabilitation, by the way -- it may work for a substance abuse problem or anger management, but I think some things are just hardwired into our brains, period.)

The only mob action I can think of in recent years are 2 incidents, the locations of which I can't recall -- in one, a driver was stricken, went off the road and almost hit some people, so a mob quickly formed and beat the hell out of the guys in the car. I don't recall if they killed either of the men. In the other incident, recently, a driver bumped a kid who walked into the street, not injuring the child, but the mob pulled him out of the car and beat him anyway, and when the passenger got out to help his friend, he was killed by the mob.

Those instances were crap, as far as I'm concerned, and those mobs were nothing more than irrational behavior.

So why am I having such a hard time getting people angry about things that really matter?

A couple of years ago when 4 New Haven teenagers carjacked, gang-raped and tried to murder a UNH student here in West Haven, I was appalled that I couldn't get a lynch mob together to string these 4 scumbags from a light post. The same 4 kids, before being caught, drove around New Haven with a gun, taking shots at random people for about a week.

Sadly, I didn't have the courage or resources to do it alone ... which I guess is a flaw of my own, something I have to work on.

Because, honestly, I think vigilante justice is quite underrated. I believe vigilantes scare would-be criminals much more than police do, because the vigilante is not constrained by bureaucracy or bleeding-heart demands for understanding and compassion. If a rapist is caught by the police, they usually face charges that don't reflect the severity of the crime; if a rapist is caught by a vigilante, they would just be eliminated.

I think a community can benefit from mob mentality. It brings people together to make their communities better by weeding out the bad people.

And togetherness is good, especially if an ethnically diverse neighborhood can come together to deal with the criminals in their midst. A common goal, something to take pride in at the next block party.

And, a neighborhood with a reputation for hunting down and executing rapists, molesters and murderers is likely a safer neighborhhood.

Just a thought.