I think it's worth having a long and detailed discussion about why we reserve so much empathy for individual-on-individual violence and so little empathy for system-on-individual violence.
Reposted from
Itai Sher
Some responses I have seen to the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson are horrid.
You have to have some empathy when a fellow human being is murdered.
You have to have some empathy when a fellow human being is murdered.
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we solve these problems with charity and policy because they're systemic. we're all responsible for them.
That's not to say that every homeowner turning homeless people from their door is violent, but the system as a whole, I think absolutely, yes!
I think a big part of the excusal is that executives are "doing their job" and that people know it entails "making hard decisions" to keep things running. But we're also seeing that this benefit of the doubt can stop applying very quickly if the harm they're causing is found to be excessive
Nope, not moral!
Murdering him might also be moral if it's the only way this sort of behavior can be disciplined.
If the life expectancy of a health insurance CEO was 1 year
Nobody would take the job, and nobody would want the jobs one step down either since you're now the target
Either the corporate structure would collapse or they stop denying claims
But they'll keep making those profitable antisocial decisions.
Executives are in charge of their companies. The buck stops at their desk, so to speak. They are responsible for what is done under their leadership.
1) Healthcare system is fucked, people who run it are untouchable.
2) Healthcare system is fucked, but the people who benefit from it have to live in fear.
Wish we had a #3, but the people with the money and power make that call.
This country was founded in the idea that, yes, sometimes violence is the only answer and that leaders should have a healthy fear of their people.
If you want to argue about whether he's morally culpable for murder, I guess you can have that theoretical debate.
Like a bad captain of a ship causing a mutiny.
Can you blame an entity of hundreds vs one person? Can a company go to jail?
It’s a fascinating discussion to have nonetheless.
Assassinating him was wrong. The way that patients & families suffer under cruel insurance practices is wrong.
If we can simply murder those who have harmed us, then our society has contracted a rot that will destroy us all in the end.
There has still never any justice for the murder of Geoffrey The Giraffe.