this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2024
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[–] PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat 322 points 3 weeks ago (6 children)

UnitedHealth Group’s Facebook post sharing its statement on Thompson’s death received more than 46,000 reactions, with about 41,000 of respondents clicking the platform’s “haha” option displaying a laughing emoji.

Holy shit.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 140 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

57k and climbing.

That's compared to 2.3k "sad" and 1.9k "care" reactions.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat 134 points 3 weeks ago (7 children)

That is astonishing. Imagine being this guy's grieving family, and finding out that 9 out of ten people are going out of their way to let everyone know they're glad he's dead.

Probably, in their minds, he wasn't doing anything wrong. I'm not trying to defend him, since he clearly was doing something wrong, and the world is almost certainly a better place without him in it. But holy shit. Even when Nixon died, a lot of people tried to come up with nice things to say about him.

[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 107 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Even when Nixon died, a lot of people tried to come up with nice things to say about him.

They shouldn't have. Simply being dead doesn't make you a good person and washing away crimes because they're beyond personal shaming ignores the benefits of establishing that you can do things that will forever taint your name and legacy.

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[–] Irremarkable@fedia.io 92 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Y'know to an extent I get the whole "but he was a father and husband!" angle

But how many thousands of parents and children died so this man could get another yacht? How many of them died slow, painful deaths from awful illnesses that could have been cured or prevented while he didn't? He, along with all his executive friends, was a mass murdering psychopath. There is zero moral difference between committing murder with a gun and committing murder with the stroke of a pen.

[–] Benjaben@lemmy.world 35 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Completely agree, zero sympathy in my case for anyone in this man's orbit. That's not to say I find them culpable, I simply do not care, at all, I find it irrational to the point of absurd to care about them. This man's actions are some of the vilest crimes against human life, inflicting so much misery and death on so many, purely for the basest greed. People often say the fight against the insurance companies is worse than the (terminal!!) cancer. Let that sink in.

Meanwhile, this guy's family led, and will lead, lives of extreme privilege, forever.

Lemme put it this way - if there's any kind of cosmic balance sheet, even be it just the pedestrian moral reckoning of we humans...the limited suffering of anyone in this guy's life as a result of this...in comparison, I mean it's a fuckin rounding error. Nothing.

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[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 35 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Imagine being this guy’s grieving family, and finding out that 9 out of ten people are going out of their way to let everyone know they’re glad he’s dead.

Do you give this same consideration to other people who get shot? What if he had been the kingpin of a drug cartel - would you still be saying 'Oh, won't anyone think of his family!' if the police raided his meth lab and he got shot?

[–] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 63 points 3 weeks ago (27 children)

The example I prefer is Bin Ladin. The United CEO killed more people than Bin Ladin. Bin Ladin was just a drama queen and made his killings a lot flashier. Does someone care so much for the rule of law, on such a deep principled level, that they objected to Bin Ladin's extrajudicial execution? If there is such a rare and gentle soul that they were willing to be offended that even Bin Ladin didn't get a fair trial, then I will be willing to listen to that person's objections to celebrating a murderous CEO's death.

Personally, I am not that good a person. And I am glad that both Bin Ladin and this CEO are out of the picture.

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[–] PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat 39 points 3 weeks ago

I think what I meant is pretty self-evident. Read it again, and lose the knee-jerk reaction where you assume that I was saying, "Oh, won't anyone think of his family!" I was just saying it was a mindfuck.

Probably, if the head of the cartel got shot, his family would be shattered but they wouldn't think it was shocking to hear everyone cheering for it. This guy lives in a world where he thinks he's doing everything he's supposed to be doing. He and his family probably thought he was really doing good, and everyone else should be getting on his level. Maybe not. I have no idea. It was just a mindfuck for me thinking about it.

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[–] aramis87@fedia.io 35 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Apparently he and his wife have been living in separate houses, so there was some mind of problem there. The ones I feel sorry for are the kids. They look to be mid-to-late teens, so they likely have a poor understanding of exactly what their dad's company did, and they certainly have no standing to change things - and they're the perfect age to be spending lots of their time on the internet.

They wake up one morning and their dad's been shot and literally the entire internet is celebrating? That's absolutely brutal.

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[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 65 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Here are the latest numbers. I logged into Facebook to contribute.

[–] LiveLM@lemmy.zip 38 points 3 weeks ago

Damn, put Kyra on blast for no reason lol

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[–] TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world 194 points 3 weeks ago (10 children)

“I’m worried about the fact that violence in the country is just escalating so much,” she says. “That this is a symptom of everyone thinking violence will solve their problems, and that I find tremendously frightening.”

I don't know if violence can solve our problems or not, but I can guarantee that not changing anything, and maintaining the status quo, absolutely will NOT solve our problems, in healthcare or otherwise.

[–] PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat 59 points 3 weeks ago

I like that even the doctors and professionals they found to interview for the story went out of their way to point out that yes, of course violence isn't a good thing and this probably isn't the way, but he's been hurting people left and right, and they see it every day, and they're glad he's dead, and so is everyone they know.

[–] Tinidril@midwest.social 48 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The status quo is violent.

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 41 points 3 weeks ago

Murdering people with a pen is still murdering people.

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[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 166 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

If a mass shooter kills a dozen people then gets shot and killed, people applaud the one who shot them.

If a CEO directly contributes to the suffering and death of an untold number of people, then gets shot and killed, why should anyone respond differently?

The fact that the deaths he caused were within the bounds of our legal system should be seen as a condemnation of our policies, not as justification for what he did. When other avenues have been exhausted, what did they think people were going to do - just sit around forever and say 'Well, that sucks'?

[–] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 67 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

What I've been asking people is - "did you weep for Bin Ladin?" If anyone is hand wringing about people mocking the insurance CEO, you should ask them if they wept for Bin Ladin.

This CEO killed far more people than Bin Ladin. And he didn't even do it out of some misguided religion - at least Bin Ladin thought he was making the world a better place. This guy just killed thousands of people for the money. Yes, the insurance guy never got a fair trial in court, but neither did Bin Ladin - OBL was killed in an extrajudicial assassination by armed US government agents. Now, in Bin Ladin's case, capture wasn't really an option. But with the UHC CEO, it's not like there was any other way to bring him to justice either.

If someone really just is that principled that they actually wept for Bin Ladin being killed without trial, then I will take their hand wringing about this guy being shot seriously. Otherwise, I'll have to believe that the person only objects because it was a wealthy and powerful American that was killed.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 22 points 3 weeks ago

And he didn't even do it out of some misguided religion - at least Bin Ladin thought he was making the world a better place.

For accuracy's sake, I'll just point out that Bin Laden didn't do 9/11 for some misguided religion; he did it because he correctly considered the West with America at its head the cause of the state of the Middle East at the time (and right now), and especially the state of Palestine. Therefore, he targeted what he considered (whether correctly or not I can't tell you; I wasn't born at the time) the symbol of US capitalists who direct policy and profit from American warmongering. Not saying he was right to kill 3000 people who are almost all innocent along the way, or that it was an appropriate or even smart way of expressing these grievances, but it was nothing as simple as misguided religion that led him to blowing up the towers (and Pentagon, which I think was a lot more appropriate as a target).

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[–] M600@lemmy.world 142 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

I’m not going to say how I feel about this, but I will say that United Health Care told me 2 separate times that they would reimburse me $2,000 for the vaccines before I traveled.

Then I got the vaccines and when I submitted the paperwork, they refused to reimburse me and the manger was like, “Oh, we made a mistake, we will not reimburse you for that.”

[–] nimble@lemmy.blahaj.zone 42 points 3 weeks ago (10 children)

Should've said no take backs. Thats on you /s

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[–] mjhelto@lemm.ee 103 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

I absolutely don't shed a tear for this man, nor his family, honestly. They lived their best life with the money he made off the denials of those who needed help the most. They can all straight up fuck themselves. Same with the media outlets trying to chastise the masses for their corporate overloads finally feeling a bit of the same discomfort and worry that they've saddled the rest of us with.

I don't advocate for violence, but I absolutely don't feel a thing for this guy or any other billionaire with similar targets bearing down on them. I see nothing, I know nothing, and thanks to their ilk, I feel nothing.

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[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 89 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Sounds like the US population is down to bring out the guillotine. Let's do this.

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[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 82 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm a ghoul because I take delight in seeing this happen and hope these people feel genuinely afraid to leave their mansions.

He was a ghoul because his decisions lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths and a leading cause of homelessness just to see a line go up.

We are not the same.

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

Hey now, that's no solution at all.

If they're too scared to leave their homes, they'll be harder to assassinate.

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[–] rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 77 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] kreskin@lemmy.world 35 points 3 weeks ago

https://www.newsweek.com/87-democrats-support-medicare-all-though-joe-biden-doesnt-1522833

87% of democrats support single payer but Biden doesnt. Trump doesnt either.

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[–] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 75 points 2 weeks ago (24 children)

And yet this country chose to elect a president who has in no uncertain terms said he will dissolve Obamacare which will only give more money and power to the CEOs of shitty healthcare companies.

[–] Jomega@lemmy.world 50 points 2 weeks ago

To be fair, people tried to shoot him too.

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[–] veganpizza69@lemmy.world 68 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

People who claim to hate violence need to learn about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_violence immediately

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[–] slickgoat@lemmy.world 65 points 3 weeks ago (11 children)

If they catch him jury selection will be a tough gig for the State.

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[–] sbv@sh.itjust.works 57 points 3 weeks ago (6 children)

I can usually empathize, but I'm just not feeling it.

Thatcher and Nixon were people who made choices, had families, and implemented incredibly shitty policies because they believed in them (as much as a politician does). I can understand that: they did what they believed was right.

This CEO was a very well paid cog in a machine designed to avoid giving subscribers treatment they need and deserve. His company built systems and processes to maximize suffering and difficulty to avoid granting coverage to people who had paid for it.

He did nothing on principle. He helped build and perpetuate a horrible system so he could get richer from the suffering of others. No belief. No higher goals. Just money. He set out to become a rich cog, and he succeeded.

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[–] BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world 45 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I made a large collection of screenshots from Facebook of people who had their claims denied by United Healthcare today if you want to really see violence.

https://imgur.com/a/yczbSDa

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[–] IvanOverdrive@lemm.ee 43 points 2 weeks ago

We all were born into the social contract. The nation states of the world assumed a monopoly on violence to provide justice instead of us taking revenge. But when there is no justice, there are only two options: to resign yourself to injustice or to take revenge.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 34 points 3 weeks ago

It is good to see the viewpoint of people working in health care. That they were afraid of being attacked over denied claims they have no control over, and that they see someone shot who was actually one of the guilty.

[–] kreskin@lemmy.world 30 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

I'm really not in favor of murder but its impossible to honestly argue against the idea that the world is a better place without that arsehole in it. Lets not discount the pain and tyrany that American health care companies inflict on their memebers, who count themselves lucky to have any health care at all. (Except for Kaiser, I love Kaiser).

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[–] Allonzee@lemmy.world 30 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Remember, they're allowed to have conferences where they LEGALLY casually discuss new and exciting technicalities and legal loopholes they've been working on to murder the customers that have responsibly paid them ahead of time to cover treatment for inevitable illness and disease in good faith, because once they're sick, they're a liability to their quarterly profit expectations and they need mooaaar.

Oh and since Reagan and especially since citizens United, they're legally allowed to silence your voice through political bribery of both parties, good distraction though.

We can blow kisses and say thank you for killing us, or we'll be silenced. Them's the rules. Suuuper free country we got here. I feel personally very free.

[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 24 points 2 weeks ago
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