UnitedHealth CEO shot (11 Viewers)

[SWJJ]

Where does it end?

Revolution?


but more likely, we will continue for several generations as the oligarchy exploits the lower and middle class, and eventually there will be no middle class left.

 

[Sailorsaint]

One can have sympathy for the dead CEO's family or his relatives. They didnt do plan UHC's controversial, hated insurance policies and premiums or have any role in their implementation. I can feel sorry for the shooter's family, too because now while he has a large amount of public sympathy who "understand, but don't support" his actions he won't be seeing his kids grow up while he's in prison and most times he'll see them, it will be in the visitors waiting room in whatever federal/state penitentiary they put him in to serve his life sentence.

It's not like health insurance CEO's are the only morally-bankrupt, greedy, selfish people who work in our whole economic apparatus sector. Down the road from where he was shot and killed, you have selfish, greedy and morally deficient stock traders, bondsmen, hedge fund managers, the CEO's of massive multi-national trading corporations, energy groups that have unlimited access and power to influential politicians, parties that rival, if not exceed what was available to this guy.

Where does it end?

I totally agree that they aren’t the only villains in our society but they do hold the life and well being of many more people in their hands than a stock broker. We should expect them to be more honest than someone that deals with finances.

 

[Sun Wukong]

Indeed we're all flawed. But rooting for more people (even health insurance CEOs) to get shot in the streets is sort of crazy.

He was the head of a company that has, through down channel actions, absolutely killed people while lining their pockets. He was the head of a company that has denial rates that are 2x the industry average and their profits have skyrocketed.


I'm not going to go off on a whole soicopolitical rant about the current state of the world, but at a certain point rage towards the wealth hoarders and power brokers will spill over into violence. It always does. They harm too many people to maintain their status. Its inevitable.

As has already been said in the thread, I don't condone murder, but I understand the rage that led the guy to this point.

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

some may argue continuing to accept the status quo (people dying from coverage refusal, and bankruptcies from life or death health care) is sort of crazy

Some may. But that's a different kind of crazy than shooting people in the back in a busy street. Doesn't seem that controversial to me.

I will admit one of my biases here which is my daughter works not far from there. If we're going down this route to fight the oligarchy I'd rather Jason Bourne here would've stabbed the guy or smothered him in his sleep or used some other means that doesn't put an entire block of Manhattan at risk.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

because now while he has a large amount of public sympathy who "understand, but don't support" his actions he won't be seeing his kids grow up while he's in prison and most times he'll see them,

maybe he can mount a Kyle Rittenhouse defense

 

[Saintman2884]

Not saying I'm actively rooting for it, but I'm finding it very hard to work up much sympathy. He does not appear to be one of the good guys.

He's not one of the good guys, but one can feel sorry for his family and relatives and honestly, Terps, where does it end? Down that road in that same city, you have very selfish, cruel, mean-spirited Wall St. brokers, hedge fund managers, bondsman, annuinity traders constantly toying and often screwing with oil/natural gas markets, food shipments, S@P, Nasdaq that leave a permanent imprint on our checkbooks in a way that rivals, if not exceeds what health insurance CEOs like Brian Thompson have. And its not like throughout American or world history, stock traders haven't massively screwed up terribly over a period of 10-20 years due to lack of needed, stringent regulation or monitors in-system to curb, prevent corruption, graft, or huge banks giving away massive "toxic loan/mortgages" so people can buy homes they can't afford and the creditors or loan officers realize this but do it anyway. That lead to this nation's worst economic depression in its history and very nearly another one about 16 years ago around this time.

Then you have energy companies, social media and Silicon Valley Corps with enormous political power, influence and contacts within both major parties to get beneficial legislation passed whenever they need it.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Indeed we're all flawed.

some are more flawed than others

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

He's not one of the good guys, but one can feel sorry for his family and relatives and honestly, Terps, where does it end?

sometimes it ends with a democratic France and a democratic US - with the end of apartheid
sometimes it ends with the 13th amendment

 

[Saintman2884]

maybe he can mount a Kyle Rittenhouse defense

Kyle Rittenhouse was an incel, sure Guido but he also had a pretty good defense he could employ saying he was just there to protect his father during a George Floyd/BLM riot and he was attacked by one of the BLM rioters (allegedly a convicted sex offender) who tried to take away his gun and use it on him it was either "fight or flight" and he choose to fight.

The situations really aren't comparable other then some segments understanding or privately condoning (not on social media) what this shooter did to this health insurance CEO.

Rittenhouse wasnt or isn't a good person and his personal politics made a already-tense situation worse but he didn't attack anyone with his guns until one of them started a fight with him because he didn't like his views. Rittenhouse shouldn't have been there but that doesn't give a bunch of rioters the excuse to assault and possibly kill someone they don't like them.

 

[saintmdterps]

He's not one of the good guys, but one can feel sorry for his family and relatives and honestly, Terps, where does it end? Down that road in that same city, you have very selfish, cruel, mean-spirited Wall St. brokers, hedge fund managers, bondsman, annuinity traders constantly toying and often screwing with oil/natural gas markets, food shipments, S@P, Nasdaq that leave a permanent imprint on our checkbooks in a way that rivals, if not exceeds what health insurance CEOs like Brian Thompson have. And its not like throughout American or world history, stock traders haven't massively screwed up terribly over a period of 10-20 years due to lack of needed, stringent regulation or monitors in-system to curb, prevent corruption, graft, or huge banks giving away massive "toxic loan/mortgages" so people can buy homes they can't afford and the creditors or loan officers realize this but do it anyway. That lead to this nation's worst economic depression in its history and very nearly another one about 16 years ago around this time.

Then you have energy companies, social media and Silicon Valley Corps with enormous political power, influence and contacts within both major parties to get beneficial legislation passed whenever they need it.

**** on all of them. Again, I'm sick of the wealth and power addicts ruining the lives of others for purely financial gain and then in many cases getting a slap on the wrist, or maybe even a golden parachute for their efforts. If they get gunned down...

 

[saintmdterps]

sometimes it ends with a democratic France and a democratic US - with the end of apartheid
sometimes it ends with the 13th amendment

Or perhaps the end of the current oligarchy in the US. Gotta break some eggs to make an omelette.

 

[Saintman2884]

sometimes it ends with a democratic France and a democratic US - with the end of apartheid
sometimes it ends with the 13th amendment

In the case of France, it took about 100 years after the French Revolution broke out to really get a republican-style system of government (Third Republic) the original revolutionaries wanted. I don't think you and others would have wanted to live through Robespierre's Reign of Terror where thousands of killed sometimes for "looking like a criminal" i.e. thought-crimes, "counter-revolutionaries", drowned in mass barges, mass shootings in front of adoring, cheering crowds, guillotining innocent French men, women and children and then allowing an enlightened depsot to take power who was territorially aggressive who set France at war with all of Europe for the next 25 years.

A lot of unnecessary dead bodies had to pile up to reach a more democratic France. You mention the 13th Amendment here in the U.S, well it took a century and several landmark SCOTUS cases along with a twenty year legal, political and sometimes police actions to force many Deep South states to end state-enforced segregation laws in schools, hospitals, private and public employment/institutions. Their were countless threats, bombings, public and private attacks on civil rights activists, organizations outside of bus stations, supermarkets, homes, businesses that made the process of desegregation/integration harder.

In the case of apartheid South Africa: yes, Apartheid is gone but SA still remains a deeply flawed, corrupt, extremely violent country and society in some respects and although Nelson Mandela was a great leader, many of his ANC heirs have not shown his same honesty, candidness, openness, and drive for a truly more racially-equal and just South Africa. Are they better then post-colonial Zimbabwe, Angola, or Mozambique? Sure, but those aren't exactly high bars of excellence to surpass.

And sometimes, you don't get a more democratic nation? You get the IRA/Sinn Fein, Red Guards, Belder-Meinhof Gang in West Germany from the late 60's-80's bombing, killing U.S. troops, kidnapping West German businessman and then killing them because they hate consumerism too much or _____ murdered person's parents were Nazis or former Wehrmacht/Waffen-SS soldiers.

 

[CapitalCitySaint]

Where does it end?

When greedy executives are no longer profiting off of the working class and hoarding all the wealth. When physicians; not morally corrupt insurance companies, are deciding what is best for their patients. That’s a start.

Fork his family, too. They had no problems living a luxurious life funded by taking advantage of fellow citizens. I wonder how many people went bankrupt or died after being denied coverage for things they should have had covered. Sure, it’s sad for them that the person they knew in a different light as husband and father is gone. I can acknowledge that they are probably hurting right now but I doubt they ever thought of the people who were hurt by the policies and price gouging their beloved daddy/hubby caused.

You can’t guilt me into feeling empathy to people who have benefited directly off the suffering and injustice to others when bad ish happens to them.

 

[Saintman2884]

Or perhaps the end of the current oligarchy in the US. Gotta break some eggs to make an omelette.

And if it gets out of control like it usually tends to? A lot of innocent, unnecessary eggs will get murdered, shot and killed. It's never just the people who deserve it the most, is it?

 

[Grumpy Old Manatee]

I read an article with a quote from his wife that he had been receiving threats for a while and it was apparently related to denied coverage.

I truly despise UNC. They are evil. They once tired to refuse to pay for my anesthesia for a major surgery AFTER it had been approved, leaving me on the hook for a bill I could not afford.

What did the University of North Carolina have to do with that?