Q&A of the Day – The ‘Daniel Penny Effect’
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Today’s Entry: On your comment regarding standing and watching. It isn't all evil. It is the Daniel Penny effect. People are afraid to step in and help out of fear of being prosecuted.
Bottom Line: Today’s note is in response to commentary I made while guest hosting for Clay Travis & Buck Sexton and Mark Levin last week. Specifically, while discussing the horrific burning of a woman on a New York subway at the hands of an illegal immigrant, I highlighted the response, or lack thereof by the onlookers, as being nearly as concerning as the illegal immigrant who set the sleeping woman on fire. Several listeners, including the gentlemen who sent this note, suggested the lack of response was understandable due to the so-called ‘Daniel Penny Effect’. As I’m inclined to say... If the premise of anything is false, anything built on the false premise will fail as well. In this case, the use of the ‘Daniel Penny Effect’ as an excuse for doing nothing to help a woman desperately in need of help... Let’s break this down.
The so-called ‘Daniel Penny Effect’ stems from the high-profile case of Marine Daniel Penny having been charged in New York for criminally negligent homicide following the subway chokehold death of Jordan Neely. Here’s a quick refresh on that case. In May of 2023, a passenger on a Manhattan F train, Jordan Neely, a schizophrenic who was high on drugs, began berating passengers and threatening to kill them. Daniel Penny, a passenger on the train, restrained Neely with a chokehold resulting in his death. While most on the train defended Penny’s response, as many were fearful for their lives, controversial New York Prosecutor Alvin Bragg indicted Penny for homicide. In the end, Penny was acquitted by a jury. However, the impact of the case is said to have created an effect on New Yorkers, and perhaps others, becoming reluctant to assist people in need for fear of prosecution. That takes us to last week’s burning death of a woman sleeping on the subway.
As we’ve come to learn, a 33-year-old illegal immigrant from Guatemala, who’d previously been deported from the US by the Trump administration in 2018, was high on drugs when he approached a sleeping woman on a subway setting her on fire. Once he set her on fire, he then fanned the flames of the fire with his shirt, while several bystanders took to video and social media expressing shock but without attempting to stop the perpetrator or to assist the burning woman. New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the attack was: one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit against another human being. So, this takes us to the so-called ‘Daniel Penny Effect’.
It’s true that none of us know exactly how we may act in a given emergency unless we’re actually faced with that circumstance. For that reason, it’s easy to Monday morning quarterback the lack of assistance provided to the woman by the bystanders. At the same time, it’s my view that the use of the ‘Daniel Penny Effect’ as an excuse for doing nothing, is revealing moral depravity within our society. In fact, if that is the excuse, I’d argue that it’s even more damning for those who would opt to do nothing. I’ll explain.
Here are two examples of inactions by the bystanders. You tell me which is worse.
- A passenger on a New York City subway train sees a woman being set on fire and takes to social media to show what’s happening
- A passenger on a New York City subway train sees a woman being set on fire, thinks about helping the woman, but opts not to out of fear of potential prosecution due to the Daniel Penny case
In these examples both responses are reprehensible, however in example A, you have a person who’s aware that what they’re witnessing is outrageous and shocking and wants to document the event (potentially for personal gain, a la a viral video). In example B, the ‘Penny Effect’ example, you have a person who makes a conscience decision not to help a vulnerable woman burning on a subway out of fear of what could happen to them if they tried. That to me is far worse than even the first example.
It’s one thing to have an inappropriate response to an emergency. It’s a whole other thing when you have an appropriate response to an emergency but then decide not to do the right thing out of fear of prosecution. That’s as great of an indication of moral depravity in society as any I can think of. Additionally, aside from the similarity of both events being subway emergencies, I don’t see the similarities anyway. I’ve not suggested something is wrong with the bystanders for not attempting to physically restrain the perpetrator. I’m suggesting something is wrong with them for watching the woman burn to death as opposed to attempting to put out the flames.
I can’t begin to imagine watching a woman burn to death without attempting to do something to help. That doesn’t make me special. That should be, and I would like to think is, the default perspective of most Americans – although, sadly, perhaps not most New Yorkers currently. The ‘Daniel Penny Effect’ isn’t just a bad excuse for doing nothing, it’s the worst possible excuse for doing nothing. The best standard to address this situation and all that come up in life is the “What would Jesus do?” standard. Jesus most certainly doesn’t standby and do nothing for fear of prosecution. And that in a nutshell I believe is the issue here. Far too few people putting God and what’s truly most important first. Not the lingering effect of a failed Alvin Bragg prosecution. Doing the right thing is always the best answer no matter the location and ramifications.