Content warning: discussion of murder
To state the obvious, murder is wrong (you’re welcome everybody). The taking of a human life can really ruin someone’s day, and is considered to be fairly impolite in most modern societies. You’d expect, then, that the news of the killing of private healthcare boss Brian Thompson in New York in early December would be met with shock, horror and tears. Instead, twitter is currently rooting for the murderer in the ongoing manhunt and fawning over the suspected shooter’s good looks -why?
Despite the best efforts of human marshmellow Wes Streeting and real-life Wicked Witch of The West Rachel Reeves, the UK remains under a system of socialised healthcare. Medical treatment is free at the point of use. Famously, this is not the case in the USA.
The NHS isn’t perfect, sure, but nobody has ever died in the UK because ChatGPT said so.
Capitalism brought America the iPhone and the Fortnite battle pass. It also brought heartbreaking poverty, some of the worst inequality on the planet, endless wars, and sky high medical bills. With most Americans reliant on insurance to live, massive ammounts of wealth end up concentrated in the hands of healthcare moguls, such as our dearly departed friend Brian.
UnitedHealthcare, which was Mr. Thompson’s company before he was shot outside of NYC’s Hilton Hotel, was seemingly concerned that private healthcare didn’t seem evil enough, and began using ‘artificial intelligence’ to deny insurance claims. This allowed the firm to deny hundreds of insurance claims whilst amassing an annual revenue of over $200bn. The NHS isn’t perfect, sure, but nobody has ever died in the UK because ChatGPT said so.
New York’s Police Department released CCTV footage of the suspect and offered a $10,000 reward for information, presumably hoping to identify and arrest as soon as possible. What I imagine they weren’t expecting, however, was half of the American public to immediately fall in love. “I’m offering $10,001 for this man’s OnlyFans link”, said one twitter user – not the average response to a murder.
In tandem to the very-public displays of affection were posts containing immense anger toward UnitedHealthcare and for-profit medicine as a whole. After all, the late CEO's company has a claim denial rate nearly 3 times the industry average, while over 44,000 Americans die annually due to not being able to afford treatment.
It’s clear that anger toward private healthcare and it's billionaires is a bi-partisan issue in the US.
The wider internet seems to share this sentiment. While obviously the left aren’t ever exactly keen on the top 1%, sentiment celebrating the killing has spread even as far as the pro-capitalist right. While garden gnome-impersonator Ben Shapiro posted a video denouncing “the left” for “cheering murder”, his usually-supportive comments section were quick to disagree. “Hate to break it to you buddy, but it’s not just the left”, said one comment, while another stated “I will shed no tear for this man”. I’d personally ask Ben that if he’s so anti-murder, why has he been cheering on a genocide for the past year? That’s just me, though. It’s clear that anger toward private healthcare and it's billionaires is a bi-partisan issue in the US.
At the end of the day, a father of two is dead, and treating murder as a admirable political goal is deplorable. However, whether the average person should be expected to care is another matter. How many thousands had a family member die due to a rejected claim while Thompson accumulated a personal wealth of $43million on the backs of their their suffering. Why should these people weep for the man who refused to even think of them?
When you kill one man, you're a murderer. When you kill thousands by locking their right to medical care behind a paywall, you're a cunning business mind.