We know that this particular murder received a lot more media and police attention than the hundreds of others of murders that happen every year in New York.
I think the difference with this murder boils down to how people have reacted to it. Normally when there’s an act of violence like this, people tend to think something like ‘that could have been me’ - being the victim. The difference in this case is that many people are thinking the same thing, but putting themselves in the position of the shooter instead of the victim.
maybe people tried to put themselves in the place of the victim but couldn’t because the target was a heartless psychopath that has caused the deaths of many thousands by denying healthcare
In my opinion, the biggest thing this assassination did was clarify economic class. Look who came out in strong defense of the CEO, and look who came out in celebration. People used to the simple cultural “left”/“right” lens struggled to make much sense of it, saying this ‘united the country’, but the class divide was bright as day with the owning class panicking together and their politicians and mass media megaphones repeating a pretty consistent chant.
edit: Like you said, what made this noteworthy is the reaction. It reminded me of the antifascist punching Richard Spenser, prompting dozens of news articles asking ‘Is it ok to punch a Nazi?’. Despite being a killing rather than mere physical assault, the audience was far more happy to yell ‘yes’ this time. Economic class is a huge point of unity, growing each day as wealth keeps consolidating, to the point even the suspect from a rich family isn’t immune.
I don’t really disagree with what you’re saying, particularly regarding the response from politicians and assorted media commentators. I think the wider public response is more nuanced than just economic class, however. I believe the response has come more from the victim’s specific industry than just “kill the rich guy”. Similarly, I seriously doubt the reaction would have been remotely the same if the victim was a Millionaire who happened to own a business that made wardrobes. There is a real dissatisfaction with healthcare in the USA and particularly with Health Insurance companies.
The ‘that could have been me’ response was more because many people could see themselves being mad enough at a Health Insurer to kill a CEO than killing some guy because he’s rich. You could of course argue that they are dissatisfied with health care because the care they receive is tied to economic class, and you’d be right. So economic class plays into this response. It isn’t the whole picture, though.
Hes a fucking hero thats all we need to know. I regret its come to death, but I think its more than about time we get a little “french” with our attitudes to the ruling class.
Uhh, did they mean Firaxis? I think they might need to Fixarixis the spelling there.
Hero? Yes. Legend? Also yes.
Maybe it’s finally time for the
healthcarerevolution?Let me guess, even if the revolution you’re talking about ends up happening, you’ll only “help” by maybe going outside to kick some cars and shit like that. You wouldn’t involve yourself in any kind of armed takeover of something important, you wouldn’t lead any fresh and clueless recruits. You wouldn’t do anything particularly useful.
You don’t even know what the resulting government would be, you only know you’d be arguing with fellow divergent revolutionaries. Not the important ones that fight themselves to the top of the chaotic new social ladder, just random ones. You’d be serving with the ones who won’t involve themselves directly with the designing of a new government, but instead are arguing about what conclusion the important guys should reach, and inevitably whining about it being the wrong one. Maybe you’ll even witness a contact of yours form a splintered faction insisting on some independent territory. But you won’t be that guy. You’ll just be cheering on the whole revolutionary-ness of it all. And then you’ll probably die.
Why don’t you know exactly what you’d fight to implement? Why haven’t you already agreed and compromised with the rest yet? Why are you leaving that to be determined and challenged when momentum and might makes right, when the faction with the most aggressive recruitment and easiest pitch gets to call the shots? Why don’t we know what we want?
What a bizarre extrapolation.
Okay, I made a play on words and a hopeful statement with the implication that these would be one and the same revolution.
I’m not sure why that merits putting words in my mouth and then accusing me of lip service. You are right that I likely won’t be on our even near the front lines, but that’s because the current form of government has already failed me and I am disabled by long COVID. It has failed me through medication shortages for my ADHD. And society has failed myself and all autists ever since that nazi fuck asperger first othered us. Probably before that even.
Can I ask you to try coming in next time with a bit more charity, a lot more curiosity, and to check your assumptions at the door? I bet we are more alike than you think.
There are really interesting conversations we could be having now based on what you said, and I think you genuinely want to have those conversations, and sort of hope you just misread my tone or intention and assumed that I on the other hand do not. I am autistic, and this is s things that happens a lot, especially with my neurotypical peers but even some of my neurospicy family are not immune.
How could this exchange have gone differently if you had asked me what I think would or should come after revolution, or offer your own ideas. What form of government do we both see as ideal? What do they have in common, where do we differ. Let’s explore those things. We could be building each other up, testing our beliefs and improving them together through discourse, even and especially where we still disagree after that.
And I’d like to make it clear that if the revolution doesn’t include a vision of a world that treats disabled folks as equals, or more specifically, one that supplants the medical model of disability with the social model, then my revolution hasn’t come yet. If it doesn’t include all folks, that black lives matter and trans lives matter, my revolution hasn’t come yet. If it doesn’t abolish prisons and police, my revolution has not come yet.
I can never be front line infantry but i have other less common and equally necessary skills to contribute in the hardware and software space. Will we need computers? Drones? Secure communications? If so then we will need more than a few people like me, able bodied or not.
Friend, what’s in your revolution? What are your passions and what are your struggles? How can I support you and what you need?
Maybe we didn’t communicate well today, that’s okay. Let’s try again another time. I hope that’s something you’d consider in the future, if not with me, with someone else. But when the revolution comes, I know I will be there, and I have a pretty good feeling you’ll be there too.
How quain. A disabled chronically online communist.
No, I’m not gonna come in with more charity next time. Your opinion will not matter in the event of a revolution. The sentence about you ending up dead would absolutely end up true. You will not be taken care of.
Do you really want to know what “my” revolution is?
It’s clumsy. People die. There’s a high chance of one of two kinds of failure. Either outright failure to take control, or the failure to create a successful and good government structure. None of the issues with the government are easier to solve through revolution. They’d all be fairly easy to solve if we bothered to figure out what we want, then picking the hierarchy to put in place.
The reality of America is thay fascism was on the ballot, and it was picked by the majority.
A socialist revolution in that context would have to mean a strong paramilitary dominance over American territory. You will not get what you want. You’re just dreaming and whinging and calling for people to take action to overthrow themselves and overthrow their decision to mistreat you.
Hmmm, i don’t think continuing this conversation is particularly useful, to borrow a phrase.
Good luck with… All of that.
Have fun theorycrafting.
