Brian Thompson, the CEO at United Health Care, was targeted, shot, and killed. For him and his family, it is a tragedy.
The bell tolls for the rest of us, too.
This shooting will raise the cost of doing business. It raises the risk of fame. It may make corporate executives think twice about their business practices.
People wasted no time figuring out how to make money from the publicity surrounding the murder. A Deny Defend Depose meme coin, a form of cryptocurrency, has already been created and is trading. There made a fixed amount, so there is scarcity, and the price rose.
People in executive offices and board rooms are re-calculating what is prudent -- indeed required -- to create workplace safety. If executives are at risk of murder by angry customers, then bodyguards, company-paid security fences at private residences, and private jet travel aren't optional perks. They are matter-of-fact safety practices right along with rollover bars on heavy equipment. This murder will cost American businesses billions of dollars and it will get built into the price of everything.
Insurance company executives -- and indeed customer-facing employees in local offices of insurance companies -- are long accustomed to angry customers. Insurance companies are infamous. There was a laugh line in the Jack Nicholson movie, As Good as it Gets, where the mother played by Helen Hunt describes to a sympathetic doctor the inadequate care her son received:
Dr. Martin Bettes : [looking over Spencer's medical records] Have they done blood tests on him?Carol Connelly : [laughs bitterly] Yeah.
Dr. Martin Bettes : Only in the emergency room or when he was well?
Carol Connelly : Emergency room only.
Dr. Martin Bettes : Okay. And how about skin testing for allergies?
Carol Connelly : No.
Dr. Martin Bettes : [looks up] No standard scratch test, they poke him with a needle...?
Carol Connelly : No. I asked, they said my plan didn't cover it and that it wasn't necessary anyways. Why, should they have?
Dr. Martin Bettes : Well... [pause]
Carol Connelly : Fucking HMO bastard pieces of shit!
Beverly Connelly : Carol!
Carol Connelly : [smiles sheepishly] I'm sorry.
Dr. Martin Bettes : It's okay. Actually, I think that's their technical name.
The theater audience I was sitting amid burst out laughing at the shouted "Fucking HMO bastard pieces of shit!"
A book is famous within the insurance industry for revealing the secret to profitability for insurance companies. Its title used two of the three words on the bullets:
Brian Thompson's wife, Paulette, said that she knew that threats had been directed against the company and her husband personally. She told NBC news, “Yes, there had been some threats basically I don’t know, a lack of coverage? I don’t know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.”
Law enforcement and the news media are treating this as a grave matter, as do I. But the instant creation of a tradable crypto token hints at the change in the zeitgeist. It is an occasion for another meme goof. Let's have some fun! After all, the killer is a bit of a Robin Hood, and he put the reason for his crime right on the bullets. Deny. Defend. Depose.
Maybe he was angry and he wasn't going to take it anymore. Maybe he broke the rules because the insurance system is rigged by elites, and he is a patriot demanding justice. Maybe if he is caught, will we learn that his house is full of MAGA merchandise? Or maybe he believes the system is rigged because he is a leftist and anti-corporate. Or maybe it is entirely personal: He got delays, the runaround, claim denial, and lawsuits from United Health Care, and he felt angry. What we do know is that he inscribed words on the bullets.
The zeitgeist has opened up to the idea that winners don't take disappointment gracefully. The system is rigged, so don't be a patsy. Trump says so. Biden pardons his son. It's a swamp so treat it as such. Moderation, in the defense of order, is no virtue. Violence, in the defense of winning, is no vice. Winners take what they want, and if they want revenge, they go after it. Retribution is a good thing. Roll the word around in your mouth: retribution. Crowds cheer.
I am not happy about this element of the zeitgeist, but I see it happening around me.
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5 comments:
I follow one rule and one rule only...never feel sorry for an insurance company.
A lot of people are angry. Some even have good reason. But anyone who expresses that anger by committing or inciting violence should be locked up, including the president-elect.
Many years ago, I burnt my kitchen down. Oops. Lost the appliances and smoke smell throughout the house. We had Allstate Insurance Company. My father said they would pay for the repairs, but then would cancel his coverage. Yep, that's exactly what happened. Allstate was notorious for that.
We live in a culture of grievance, and there are hundreds of millions (the alleged estimate of guns in the USA) of ways for retribution. I think about those who will not be protected: school boards, city councils, election workers, librarians, and maybe even local financial advisors! Troubling times indeed. This is the sort of thing that “justifies” martial law and we know just the leader to pull the trigger (sorry): the guy who is the chief promoter of grievance culture.
One of the new surveillance pics released shows the suspect flashing a toothy grin, even a winning smile. Did anger morph into joy at the imminent prospect of retribution? Creepy, if so.
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