I’m not 100% certain that we know the motive for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The obvious answer is that he was killed by a policyholder who was denied coverage, although it also seems possible that the shooting is connected to an insider trading investigation of Thompson and other executives. If so, evidence pointing to an angry customer might be deliberate misdirection, especially one of the melodramatic clues in the case — shell casings found at the scene with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose” on them. (A 2010 book on the insurance industry is titled Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.) The shooting seems to have been a more professional job than you’d expect from a customer at the end of his rope. Nevertheless, the obvious theory is probably correct.
I won’t defend the shooting, but I understand it. I’ve felt for years that it might be impossible to use ordinary means to get out of the doom loop we’re in — Republicans massively redistribute money to the rich and the tax burden to the non-rich, while Democrats only tinker at the margins when they’re in power, and so inequality never stops increasing. People have to run harder and harder just to stay in the same place, as healthcare, education, and housing become more and more expensive. To paraphrase John F. Kennedy, if changing this through non-violent means is impossible, efforts to change it through violent means might be inevitable.
I’m saying this from a left-liberal perspective, but I don’t believe that the many people who are making snarky comments about the Thompson murder are leftists, liberals, or Democrats. I’m not sure the shooter will turn out to be a Democrat. Hey, haven’t pundits been telling us for years that the Republican Party under Donald Trump is a populist, pro-working-class party that despises “elites”?
Funny thing, though — the Trump GOP’s ministry of information, otherwise known as Fox News, doesn’t seem particularly sympathetic to Americans with porous health coverage. Here’s the headline for Fox’s story on the snark:
Culture of life? UnitedHealthcare CEO’s murder mocked and celebrated by far-left
Yup — if you were on social media and wrote (or liked) a comment such as “I would offer thoughts and prayers but I’m gonna need a prior authorization first,” you’re part of the “far left.”
More from the Fox story:
In one post, left-wing journalist Ken Klippenstein quipped that he hoped Thompson’s ambulance ride “was in network.”
… The comment section on MSNBC’s post included “thoughts. But prayers require prior authorization first” and “my prayers are denied for now,” was posted in the thread of The New York Times’s post.
… “I think this encapsulates the far left’s worldview: If you run a company that isn’t to their liking, you deserve to die,” Fox News contributor and columnist Joe Concha shared with Fox News Digital.
Given how fond the right is of the expression “liberalism is a mental illness,” it’s no surprise that Fox trots out a regular guest who’s a shrink:
Manhattan-based psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert said the ghoulish reactions belied progressive values.
“For progressive movements that often advocate for compassion, equality, and justice, such reactions are particularly contradictory and counterproductive, but again, not surprising,” he told Fox News Digital. “I saw a similar phenomenon following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Many clients expressed disappointment over the shooter not succeeding in his mission. It brings front and center the question: why is it that the party that supposedly is all about acceptance seems to be rejecting of people who might think differently than them?”
No one is feeling schadenfreude about this death because Thompson used to think differently from the rest of us. They’re feeling schadenfreude because his company denied their medical claims. They’re feeling schadenfreude because the decisions that made him wealthy hurt ordinary people.
But, of course, that’s not the takeaway at the one news source trusted by dedicated voters for the party of the working class.
Republished with permission from No More Mister Nice Blog.
