this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2024
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A grainy image of his face drew comparisons to Hollywood heartthrobs. A jacket similar to the one he’s wearing on wanted posters is reportedly flying off the shelves. And the words written on the bullets he used to kill a man in cold blood on a sidewalk on Wednesday have become, for some people, a rallying cry.

Four days after a gunman assassinated a top health insurance executive in Midtown Manhattan and vanished, the unidentified suspect has, in some quarters, been venerated as something approaching a folk hero.

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[–] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 223 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

In grim twist, corporate media tries to guilt people out of having hope

[–] granolabar@kbin.melroy.org 48 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Media is there to make owners feel good so they are doing just that.

Issue is that working class is not accepting this narrative.

A dead corporate executive is the most unified people have ever been in a generation.

I don't think extra security can save them when entire country wants you dead

[–] fubbernuckin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

And we now have an entire country open to talking about how much they want corporate executives dead.

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[–] Doorbook@lemmy.world 31 points 2 weeks ago

Three incident in the last 4 years where billionaires owned media got caught lying. Covid, Gaza, and now this. In all of these they didnt gave shit about innocent people dying, finding excuses and twisting words to gaslight people.

[–] Kernal64@sh.itjust.works 162 points 2 weeks ago

What's grim about it? Of course people are gonna look kindly upon someone who kills a mass murderer.

[–] DougHolland@lemmy.world 131 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

I have a right-wing neighbor who voted Trump three times, says climate change is a hoax, and hates me for sometimes wearing a tie-dye jacket, but he says with a grin all over his face, "Did you hear about that insurance CEO who got shot dead?" and he laughs and laughs and gives me a thumbs-up.

America stands united.

[–] Notorious_handholder@lemmy.world 50 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Funnily enough the death of a United Health Care CEO has United Americans in a feeling of well deserved schadenfreude.

[–] AngryRobot@lemmy.world 42 points 2 weeks ago

My trump-loving in-laws are the same. Voted 3 times for shitler, but they're thrilled about this. It's one thing in the news that we can discuss.

[–] Benjaben@lemmy.world 38 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

A few more of these and we'll all really see how much we actually agree with one another, and how much the split and hate is manufactured.

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[–] Rooty@lemmy.world 101 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I see that the corporate owned media is sweating bullets.

Good.

[–] AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip 31 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah theyre really crawling for appeal but that means they are afraid. I was really against violent actions like this but after seeing how effective it isni guess im also a radical leftist now instead of just a leftist. If they take the power away from thw people you have to take it back violently.

[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 23 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

This is what I was trying to tell all ya pacifist bastards, the rich are cowards and only know the language of violence.

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[–] n3m37h@sh.itjust.works 100 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I don't condone murder, but I also dont feel sad about a mass murderer being gunned down.

[–] logi@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

That's pretty much what condone means. From MW:

To overlook, forgive, or disregard (an offense) without protest or censure. synonym: forgive.

From Cambridge:

to ignore or accept behavior that some people consider wrong

So you're perhaps not encouraging it?

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[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 91 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Someone killing thousands through corporate policies: Not grim.

Someone killing that person: Grim.

/s

[–] AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works 23 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah fuck the title of this article. What a shit way to introduce bias.

[–] Saleh@feddit.org 84 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

In a report this week, the institute found that of the top 10 most-engaged posts on X about the shooting on Wednesday, six “either expressed explicit or implicit support for the killing or denigrated the victim.” The dynamic is similar to the discourse that often emerges after a mass shooting on websites like 4chan and 8chan, where perpetrators of extreme violence become memes themselves, Mr. Goldenberg said, “but what’s disturbing about this is it’s mainstream.”

Get fucked neo-liberal media. What an isane gaslighting comparision. This was a targeted assasination. Are you now afraid that people direct their anger at the sources of it, rather than the peasants killing each other?

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[–] PortoPeople@lemm.ee 73 points 2 weeks ago (13 children)

Grim? WTF? The dude is a hero.

We need a French solution to the oligarchy problem and this guy moved us in the right direction.

He's a god damn hero.

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[–] beansbeansbeans@lemmy.world 57 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

The only grim aspect is how much time, resources, and energy the NYPD has wasted trying to solve this. Statistically, there have been other murders since this one. They should move on and add this to their "unsolved" pile.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 16 points 2 weeks ago

"We don't care when they're poor." -NYPD

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[–] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 52 points 2 weeks ago

I don't know why they don't just add it to the unsolved pile like all the other murders they see?

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 51 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Is it a twist if nobody is surprised?

Perhaps this should actually read "in grim reality, most see suspect in C.E.O. Killing as Hero or Heartthrob".

[–] WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 2 weeks ago

The number one react on the UHC Facebook announcement about it is the crying laughing emoji. The people have spoken.

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[–] Shelbyeileen@lemmy.world 51 points 2 weeks ago

He's not only hot; he's making an example out of cruel millionaires .. millionaires who prefer money and let people die, without ANY hesitation. So yeah, it's not like being attracted to Dahmer, it's more like being attracted to Katniss Everdeen.

[–] granolabar@kbin.melroy.org 50 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

America is finally united

Corporate response is buy more security

Is the start of the first corpo war?

Cyberpunk main quest activated?

[–] thrawn@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago

After some recent events I read Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service. It includes bit on how well trained, extremely prepared USSS agents were unable to stop a single practice gunman whose identity they knew. All variables were in their favor and they were far more competent than hired security will be. I’ve included an excerpt at the end.

Corporate security will not stop someone willing to go to jail or die for it, such as someone terminally ill and fucked by their insurance. Media puff pieces overstating security effectiveness— spread through outlets owned by the ultra wealthy— would be far more effective in preventing another event like this. Presumably the more people that know, the more emboldened they would be to repeat this heartbreaking, earth-shattering tragedy. Which would just be terrible. Certainly I would be horrified and thus suggest suppressing this info. We should be spreading how corporate security is infallible to protect heroes like Mr. Thompson’s peers so they can continue to be upstanding members of society.

“In the wake of the Wallace shooting, the Service conducted more frequent and intensive drills on how to handle different kinds of attackers on a rope line. Agents and officers practiced over and over, playing the roles of detail agents and spectators on either side of the line. The drill instructor warned the agents ahead of time that a person in the crowd would play the role of the shooter and approach the principal with a gun. The drill instructor even pointed out who that person was.

“The agents were told who had a weapon,” said one former agent. “And the guys are working the rope line and they’re constantly looking at this guy waiting for the moment when he’s going to pull the gun. They know who it is.”

Agents swiveled their heads back and forth from the spectators in front of them to the mock gunman in the crowd. They tried to anticipate his move and readied themselves for the fastest dive or lunge. No matter how many times they did the drill, the result was the same. “They never once stopped him before two shots,” the former agent said.”

[–] metaStatic@kbin.earth 18 points 2 weeks ago

good time to start a career in security as a non-American because these scumbags literally can't trust anyone in their country to not step out of the way at the first opportunity, but I can't see anyone else taking a bullet for them either so ... good luck to them.

[–] nick@midwest.social 50 points 2 weeks ago

Where’s the twist? This is a dumb headline.

Turns out some people can only be pushed so far before they resort to violence.

[–] SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works 50 points 2 weeks ago

Cops have long had the Punisher.

Now big Insurance has The Adjuster.

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 42 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

Some? I've yet to find anyone not on his side, the most I can find are people sarcastically saying "Oh no, won't someone please catch him..."

What were the words written on the bullets.

Thing is, if they don't catch him, it will inspire a copycat to repeat his tactics.

And I honestly can't even bring myself to say it's a bad thing; this gunman killed a glorified serial killer, a man who is paid to find people buying his product in order to get help for fatal yet curable illnesses, and kill them in order to save costs.

Violence is wrong and should only be used as a last resort, but well, given the circumstances it's hard for me to lose sleep at night....

I legally cannot and will not advocate violence, I stress this, I AM NOT ADVOCATING VIOLENCE, IF YOU'RE PLANNING YOUR OWN VIOLENT ACT I BEG YOU TO RECONSIDER! Everyone out there has at least one other person who loves them, and most high profile violent acts backfire horribly on the perpetrator.

But I will say this. Some men can only be pushed so far until they're at the edge, then they'll grab onto the person who put them there so at least they fall together... And many MANY men are at the edges.

"Those who make peaceful resolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable." - JFK

[–] dragonfucker@lemmy.nz 20 points 2 weeks ago

Deny. Defend. Depose.

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[–] TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world 41 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

“It’s being framed as some opening blow in a broader class war..."

That's what many of us are hoping for. But this author, and nearly all other mainstream news outlets can't understand that. They can't understand why we would want a class war, why would we want something so disruptive, so destabilizing, so potentially destructive? It baffles and disturbs them, but that's because they can't, or won't, see the harm being done by the current system. They are blind to the harms of late capitalism, willfully.

For many of us, the problems go much deeper than a few greedy and unethical CEOs, it's the system. The inhumanity of health insurance providers is just a very egregious and obvious tip of the iceberg. This CEO wasn't just some exceptionally bad guy, he was a product of the system. He'll be replaced by another one of thousands and thousands of people who come out of our business or economic schools, and who would have run United Healthcare the same way he did. The problem is a system in which the private profits of a relative few are prioritized over all else; over human well being, and over sustainability and environmental protection. Many of us believe that that system must be abolished and replaced. We don't want war, but if war is what's necessary to destroy this unsustainable and inhumane system, then so be it.

[–] FuryMaker@lemmy.world 40 points 2 weeks ago

I'd say it's grimmer that some people feel sorry for the CEO.

[–] CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net 40 points 2 weeks ago

The pearl clutching from the bourgeois is becoming a bit annoying.

[–] eran_morad@lemmy.world 38 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You drive people to desperation and this is the result. What the fuck else could anyone expect?

[–] Zombiepirate@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago

Right?

When your business model is an engine that creates desperate people with nothing to lose, you have to expect something like this.

[–] orcrist@lemm.ee 33 points 2 weeks ago

Reality is grim. The twist is romantic.

[–] RedirectDeposit@sh.itjust.works 29 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

If they ever catch the suspect, he's going to have a hell of a defense fund. That's probably why the cops will end up killing him on sight.

[–] uberdroog@lemmy.world 28 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Grim twist? Who is pushing this narrative? Sounds like corporate media might not be able to keep this cat in the bag.

[–] peopleproblems@lemmy.world 23 points 2 weeks ago

"it's being framed as some opening blow in a broader class war"

I mean the guy did hit the nail on the head. The elite have done so much for so long to keep the masses divided to prevent a class war. The sane thing would be for private companies, especially the healthcare insurance industry, to immediately change their policies before it gets worse.

The pressure has been rising for a long time, and something gave a few days ago. Cats already out of the bag.

[–] spujb@lemmy.cafe 27 points 2 weeks ago

Engels:

When one individual inflicts bodily injury upon another such that death results, we call the deed manslaughter; when the assailant knew in advance that the injury would be fatal, we call his deed murder. But when society places hundreds of proletarians in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural death, one which is quite as much a death by violence as that by the sword or bullet; when it deprives thousands of the necessaries of life, places them under conditions in which they cannot live – forces them, through the strong arm of the law, to remain in such conditions until that death ensues which is the inevitable consequence – knows that these thousands of victims must perish, and yet permits these conditions to remain, its deed is murder just as surely as the deed of the single individual; disguised, malicious murder, murder against which none can defend himself, which does not seem what it is, because no man sees the murderer, because the death of the victim seems a natural one, since the offence is more one of omission than of commission. But murder it remains.

Start posting this Wikipedia page y’all. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_murder This shit has needed to be taken seriously for ages and this might be the context where that starts taking greater hold.

[–] mhague@lemmy.world 26 points 2 weeks ago

Google, show me "CEO assassination rule34"

[–] Pheonixdown@lemm.ee 25 points 2 weeks ago

"A desperate disease requires a dangerous remedy." ~ Guy Fawkes

[–] irish_link@lemmy.world 25 points 2 weeks ago

I’m a 40 year old straight dude with two kids and a wife. I think that guy is a freaking heartthrob! I mean first look at him, he good looking. I always rate people on how they look first but more importantly how they act second. And just look how this guy acted.

[–] malloc@lemmy.world 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I don’t see assassin as “hero” or “heartthrob”.

Our high trust society has eroded due to massive corruption at the highest level (SCOTUS popularity/trust plummeted) , late stage capitalism and catering to billionaires, and incompetent politicians. The incoming administration will be without a doubt no help in this aspect.

The assassin has unfortunately become “necessary”. I don’t praise his actions but I understand why this person decided to take it into their own hands (ie, family or loved one impacted by “deny, delay, defend” policies).

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[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Doesn't seem all that Grim to me

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[–] joel_feila@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago

A twist?! Stupid sexy hitman

[–] Cruxifux@feddit.nl 18 points 2 weeks ago

Ok but I ain’t even gay and I wanna fuck this man.

[–] TheObviousSolution@lemm.ee 16 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

In an alternate universe, Joker is considered a hero because he killed the criminal and the corrupt while Batman allowed them to live. Joker, a hero against the system, the vigilante who is a vigilante and not just status quo, the vigilante the city needed but not the one it deserved. The Joker movie could set a pretty sweet alternate universe.

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