Daniel Penny faced jail time because he forgot that no good deed goes unpunished. This remains a harsh reality for all those who care. What does that say about human nature? Our culture? And perhaps most importantly: our ‘justice’ system?

I once experienced something not nearly as serious, but similar to this scenario. Back in 2000, a man accosted me in the New York subway, and really got in my face. He kept leaning toward me, mocking and bullying me, in front of a sizeable audience.

There were probably 15 people in the immediate vicinity, all of us waiting for a train. The encounter lasted several minutes, and took a couple curious turns along the way. At first, I was sitting down, as were most of the other people.

The man went on an on, making frightening hand gestures toward and around me. It was quite upsetting, but as a former New Orleanian, I was somewhat accustomed to such antics. Besides, there was something else that bothered me more.

I kept looking around at the audience, to see how they were responding. Not only did no one try to dissuade the agitator; all anyone did was laugh about it while looking down at their phones or their magazines, or the gum on the concrete by their feet.

Again and again, I looked around, occasionally engaging eye contact with my new, pseudo-interlocutor acquaintance (and maybe just to make sure he wasn’t about to physically attack me); only to see smug laughter.

That’s when I sprang into action! I stood up, right in front of my pal, made it clear that some shiznit was about to go down, waited a second or so for effect, then turned around… and ripped into every other person in that station!

I told every last one of them (not including my thespian pal), that they should be ashamed of themselves. I made sure to look at each of their faces, and not a single one of them had the gumption to look me in the eye. I checked each and every face, one at a time. Nothing.

It was one of the strangest moments of my life, so awkward, so intense. I clearly recall paying close attention to the audience. I made sure to look directly at each one, and it was so obvious that they all felt really, really bad about their behavior.

My message was this wasn’t funny, and they shouldn’t be so smug or amused by it. I didn’t outright defend my new comrade; but rather focused on their behavior as they consumed this “content” — which is how it all felt to me. The soliloquy probably lasted three minutes.

A train came, though not mine, and all the audience members sheepishly got up from their seats, and shuffled along their way. There was a real moment of silence and tableau; everyone else had left, the train departed, and the two of us were the only ones around.

I remember then looking at this man I had never met before. He looked me right in the eye and said something I’ll never forget:

“You the only one who ever stayed!”

We proceeded to chat for about five minutes, and I recall lighting a cigarette in front of him. He looked surprised, and said: “Five-Oh?” He thought I was a cop, because you’re not allowed to smoke cigarettes at subway stations. I didn’t care about that right then.

I said, “No,” and we shook hands, then parted ways.

Never in my life had I bitched out a whole crowd of strangers, and I frankly hope to never do it again. It was a very strange experience, but one that apparently had to happen. This is the first time I’ve ever told this story to anyone.

Daniel Penny did the right thing. He was trained for combat, had obviously experienced an intense scene or two (or a hundred) in his day, and he made that fateful choice. That said, I pray for Jordan and his family, and hope the world will be a better place tomorrow.

I predict that in the near future, the justice system will rely heavily on AI. In fact, you’ll have the option, at least for civil cases, to choose an AI judge and/or jury. Or, you can opt to pay a lot more, and go with a real judge and jury. My suggestion? If you’re innocent, go with AI!

Check out this Friday’s Keynote at InsightJam to hear my predictions about this and other topics related to the imminent AI Overthrow!