The American Hero

We celebrate the heroic cowboys (such as Roy Rogers and Gene Autry) and other heroes like John Wayne who rescued damsels in distress. We honor the American heroes of the Greatest Generation that protected the United States and saved the world from Nazism in World War II. We want the police officers and fire fighters to stand between our homes and danger. Yet, many people condemn the toxic masculinity that makes heroes such as Daniel Penny. 

Penny is a former Marine who acted in self-defense as well as the defense of other people on the New York subway when Jordan Neely began making violent and threatening remarks. Neely had an extensive criminal record as well as a documented history of mental illness.

A woman who was on the subway and witnessed the altercation between Penny and Neely told Fox News that passengers on the subway were uncomfortable with Neeley’s remarks. “I’m sitting on a train reading my book, and, all of a sudden, I hear someone spewing this rhetoric. He said, ‘I don’t care if I have to kill an “f,” I will. I’ll go to jail. I’ll take a bullet,’” The woman continued, “I’m looking at where we are in the tube, in the sardine can, and I’m like, ‘OK, we’re in between stations. There’s nowhere we can go.’” She added, “The people on that train, we were scared. We were scared for our lives.”

The continued with her experience. Penny stepped in after Neely used the words “kill” and “bullet” and restrained Neely in a headlock for several minutes. Neely lost consciousness during the restraint and was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Penny stayed at the scene to talk with police officers. His lawyers noted that Penny turned himself in voluntarily and “with the sort of dignity that is characteristic of his dignity of service to this grateful nation.” Penny has been charged with second-degree manslaughter in Neely’s death, but his attorneys claim that he acted in self-defense. Americans agreed with Penny and donated more than $2.6 million to a legal defense fund for the former Marine.

Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) discussed the Penny case in an interview with The Daily Signal about his new book, “Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs.” According to Hawley, Americans do not have all the facts and details necessary to understand the Penny-Neely situation fully.

This is a good example of the extremely confusing signals that the culture and the media and the Left send to young men, which is that you don’t hear much outrage on the Left … about the fact that New York subways and streets are extremely unsafe, and that if you are an everyday citizen walking or traveling, you may well be subject to violence….

That’s just wiped away. We’re supposed to just live with that.

But then, you’ve got a guy who actually puts himself in danger to try to help other people. You’ve got a subway passenger now saying, ‘He saved my life. He put himself in danger.’ That is automatically condemned before we even know all the facts. It’s like, ‘Oh, that must be wrong” or “That must be crazy.’

Young men looking at this situation … will like think, “Well, now, hold on. I thought that a man was supposed to be willing to put himself on the line. Isn’t that what we celebrate in the Greatest Generation, for example, a whole generation of young men who went out there and sacrificed for their country? But you’re telling me now, ‘If I do that, I’m going to be vilified, sued, charged, what have you.’”

As the criminal justice system plays out, Americans will learn the facts and the truth about what happened between Neely and Penny … based on what is known?

It sure looks like the guy who wanted to do good and wanted to protect others is being immediately condemned, while the criminality or potential criminality of the aggressor here is just sort of being overlooked.

Some people claimed that there is a racial motivation to Neely’s death and participated in protests in New York City. Some politicians claim that Penny (who is White) “murdered” Neeley (who is Black). However, the woman who witnessed the altercation told Fox News that Penny did not intend to kill Neely but was acting in self-defense. “It was self-defense, and I believe in my heart that he saved a lot of people that day that could have gotten hurt.”

Hawley continued his discussion about how such incidents can affect men as well as young men:

For men, and young men especially, you can see why [incidents like that of Penny and Neely] sort of pushes them, sort of, into neutral, so to speak… It gets them out of ger and into neutral, where it’s like, ‘Well, if I try to do something with my life, if I’m ambitious in terms of wanting to actually achieve something, if I put myself out there, I’m going to be told I’m “toxic.” I’m going to be told that I’m making the world worse. I’m going to be vilified. If I want to be heroic, I’m going to be told, “No, don’t do that.”’

On the other hand, if you do nothing, if you sit around in your parents’ basement and look at a screen all day, you feel terrible about yourself… [citing the dangers of pornography and social media consumption]. And this is what we’re seeing in men today.

This is the cultural dysfunction that the Left’s ideology has led us to….

And the antidote to that is a better vision. It’s a better message, to say, ‘No, we want you to be a hero. We want you to sacrifice yourself. We want you to put yourself on the line. We want you to try and serve others.’

That’s what you should do as a man…. You should try to take on the roles of father and husband and warrior. Those are good things, and we should encourage our young men to do that.

Americans should be grateful for leaders like Senator Hawley who defends masculinity in men and femininity in women. Men and women are equal in worth, but we need each other to be complete. We should use the strengths of men and women to make society a better place.