No Stupid Questions

As a person living in Scotland I was initially perplexed why this was even a story. I mean, isn't this what Americans do? Shoot each other all the time?

If the guy that was shot was a bum living out of a dumpster at the back of McDonald's would this even be a story? And therein lies my initial naivety: this was a CEO of a company ranked 8th on the 2024 Fortune Global 500, and therefore a very important person indeed apparently.

Money talks and bullshit walks I guess.

As for the shooter, I haven't really been following the story, but I guess he was someone who got fucked over by the health insurance company.

To me this is just box standard America: people shooting each other, fat folk eating too much, car chases, wars everywhere, idiots for presidents, corrupt companies. The kind of stuff that's in every Hollywood movie.

As an outsider looking in, it's kind of sad yet fascinating watching the most powerful country in the world fall apart.

Sympathy for the CEO is nonexistent, the general vibe is "he had it coming".

Oooh! I was just talking to someone with a serious hot take.

So, back during covid, I had cause to interact with the sheriff of our county. We became friends. Maybe not bosom buddies sharing the contents of our hearts or anything, but I can talk to the man about what ACAB really means and he listens instead of being a dick.

So, the subject came up earlier today when I stopped in his office after a dental appointment.

His hot take was that if it had happened here, he would have done his job; arrested the man, processed him, and posted guards on him 24/7 until he was shipped back to NYC. But he said he also wild have personally been present at any questioning or handoffs to make "plain fucking sure nobody did anything stupid".

He also said that he agrees with why the man is angry, but that murder is too far. Then he said he's worried about the man because he wouldn't know who to trust with him. A fairly conservative country county sheriff outright admitted that he wouldn't trust most cops to keep the man safe.

He even expressed concern about the safety of the people that called in the report in Altoona.

That's probably the most surprising thing I've ever heard from him. He's normally a fairly unbending sort when it comes to violent crime. Never let them out of jail again type of unbending. But for his thought to be worry about the killer? That's fucking wild.

Anyway, beyond that, it's kinda mixed. A ton of my friends are left leaning to full on leftist. So i expected some support. What surprised me among friends is that nobody is arguing that the guy needs the book thrown at him, even among my more moderate friends, and the smattering of conservative ones that aren't so conservative I can't be friends with them.

Relative wise, my family is politically mixed. And it's still new enough that I haven't talked to everyone because how the fuck do you have a conversation with that many people in a week without a gathering? But the usual group chats are leaning more on the side of the guy than on the CEO. The older family tends to be more about him needing to be in jail, with a few calls for the death penalty, but the "in jail" folks aren't exactly ranting and raving.

The most extreme of the families, of which I'm not the most extreme, but I ain't exactly not extreme at all, they want the guy out of jail. Some are calling him a hero, others more of a victim of the system, but the main group chat of us lefties is devoid of any hate for the man at all.

In other words, it's not a consensus at all. It's about what you'd expect over any situation where a regular guy does something illegal as a move against the status quo.

NYC. Everyone talks about it with a wink and a smile, from coworkers to friends to random people. The only people who are opposed to it are my company's rich directors.

could put a target on my back

I know, I'm paranoid

It does not mean that you are paranoid. It just means that you are vastly overestimating your own importance.

Oof, I was not going to share my thoughts on this but: my first thought when I saw the smiling footage was that it had to be a cute psychopath, I don't think most people could smile while they planned to kill anyone, and I was glad that if he was a weapon at least he was aimed correctly. I wouldn't say my impression has changed.

My gay coworker said, and I quote "ooh, hello handsome!"

Nobody I've talked to has been able to dredge up any sympathy for the victim, like literally nobody of any class or inclination. All feel he killed for profit, live by the sword, die by the sword. That is separate from any feelings about the killer or vigilante justice in general.

I don't really want to discuss this IRL since I'm a bit paranoid of mass surveillance and getting my voice recorded saying anything anti-establishment could put a target on my back

Wait till you find out the CIA can read...

So far, it's mostly been these points:

1. Murder is wrong. Thompson should not have been murdered.
2. Nevertheless, this was bound to happen eventually, and [people I've talked to about it are] not upset that Thompson is dead.

The only thing I've heard general consensus on is how good-looking he is.

I haven't really heard anyone talking about it IRL, but that's not a very big sample size.

My friend works for an insurance company. He is very ready to make jokes about it but he was involved in a meeting with the higher-ups and he said they seemed genuinely worried, as you'd expect I suppose, and had to bite his tongue.

Australian here, the only people I have interacted with IRL who Ive talked about it with are members of my political party (we are socialists). It has been a mix of positivity and questioning how or if it will actually change anything or lead more people to joining the movement. It has certainly lead to a lot of online discourse but whether it will lead to any real movement building or change is yet to be seen. There is also the question of how useful individual acts of violence are when there isn't a mass movement behind them. I have also seen people calling the shooter hot and such. There is no sympathy at all for the CEO and the people I have talked with all think he had it coming

The UHC memoriam post on FB had reactions of 95% laughing face emoji and 5% everything else. It's not the best cross section of humanity. But, public perception seems quite clear.

Everybody I have talk to is ok with the act.

My closest circle reflects the prevailing view here on Lemmy. I don’t go out much so the only other people I’ve interacted with are people who work in the same fiefdom that I do so no one mentions it.

I can't say I'm surprised it happened. I'm kinda surprised it didn't happen sooner considering some of the games companies can play and the emotions involved when trying to care for loved ones. The timing sucks because the kids who had nothing to do with the business won't have another Christmas without thinking of the time they had to bury their dad.

I'm glad that of all the options the shooter chose to be about as surgical as they could be. Better to target one heavily involved person than a mass shooting at a hospital, office etc where most people have nothing to do with big picture decision making.

Now I'm concerned about copycats that won't be as considerate and kneejerk legal repercussions since I enjoy the 2nd amendment and use suppressors often. I think this is the first real crime I've heard of with a suppressor used. Nobody I know wants to see this be a regular thing but hopes this will be a wake up call higher ups need to change their practices.

This would not have happened if company leaders implemented a "don't be a dick" style of operation.

They would have made a bit less money, sure, but at the level they operate at, they are just working the highscore anyway, so earnings are effectively meaningless to them, their standard of living won't increase much by exploiting their customer even further.

The few people I’ve talked to about the matter don’t care about the CEO being murdered as his decision were so ruthless and harmed many. A coworker mentioned it would’ve been better if that CEO was put on trial for his bullshit as so many were being fucked over by callous capitalist choices. That this man needed to be made an example of so those fat cats would be worried as fuck.

I’m also not sad that scumbag is dead; I’m sad that circumstances pushed the accused to the edge that an assassination of a CEO was the right answer. The system is so fucked, this should be an alarm bell ringing event. Knowing the good old USA, it will be swept under the rug until a real, large scale violent uprising happens.

My parents think it's immoral to kill someone, even if they're indirectly murdering thousands of people. Can't agree on everything, I guess...

All my IRL friends have been sharing the same memes we see here

I don't know but people, as in, my world of Warcraft characters, aren't aware of it because it didn't occur in their universe

Anyone in my circles who's had to fully interact with our US healthcare has, at minimum, said they understand the motive.

I'm coming off of two years (and change) of daily, debilitating pain. I'm just now starting to get used to moving around on the regular again, and trying to get back into a shape that isn't "round." As a consequence of this, I also don't have a job. During those two years, I spent more than seven months collecting doctor's reports and paperwork to get coverage for the medications prescribed... In Canada! The stuff that was covered here would have absolutely bankrupted me in the US. (Yes, I got declined.)

No comment.

My family had a jolly laugh about that CEO. Several of them have worked with mental health patients and elders and hate the entire health insurance industry, my brother works for cooperate types and as a result has zero sympathy for corporate types and we share memes about it. Whatever other beliefs Luigi may have, he did us all a solid, so he’s ok in our book.

If you look at it at the individual level, of course it's a tragedy.

At the systematic level though, big change historically almost always includes death, and at the end people everywhere celebrate the successful revolution with very little thought to those sacrificed to get it.