Murder and Manslaughter–American Style

From this:

In a recent incident, a high school hockey coach died after being punched outside of a bar in St. Paul, Minnesota, on April 17 following an argument about social distancing, the Star Tribune reported.

According to officials the victim, identified as 48-year-old Michael G. Ryan (pictured), sustained a fatal brain injury after being punched and falling backward down a set of stairs and hitting his head on concrete as a result. The man who punched him, 44-year-old Ryan Whisler, was charged with second-degree murder Monday. Witnesses told officials that Ryan confronted Whisler about not social distancing in the bathroom, to which Whisler reacted in violence, first grabbing Ryan’s shirt and then trying to pull his mask off before punching him.

Sadly, we’ve all been forced to learn a great deal about the criminal statutes in Minnesota surrounding murder and manslaughter, and it seems that this charge will need to be reduced to first degree manslaughter, maximum penalty 15 years in prison, because there was no intent to kill, but the death occurred by the inflicting of bodily harm.

Be this as it may, this is why I don’t advise messing with people on mask-wearing or social distancing.  We already know for a fact that we live among pigs; no further proof needs to be provided than what we can see for ourselves on a daily basis.

If I owned a store, I would hire a guy who has trouble fitting through doorways to ask all shoppers to wear masks, obviating the need for personal involvement.

At a certain point, the threat to our personal health and safety represented by the pandemic will be over.  But I wonder if we haven’t lost something of even greater value: our collective humanity.