“Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare since 2021, was shot and killed outside an entrance to the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan, New York City, on December 4, 2024. He was in the city to attend an annual investors meeting for UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare. Authorities believe the attack was not random. Thompson had been criticized for UnitedHealthcare’s rejection of insurance claims, and his family reported that he had received death threats in the past. The shooting occurred early in the morning, and the suspect, initially described as a white man wearing a mask, fled the scene.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Brian_Thompson

(edit) I would like to point out that Luigi Mangione is only a suspect and there are currently doubts about the integrity of the evidence.

  • Manticore@beehaw.orgEnglish
    3·
    9 hours ago

    Curiosity, resigned frustration.

    Whether it was him or not, whether evidence was real or not. If the goal was to spark a revolution, if it was to wake people up to their collective power, if it was to scare the elites…

    This person took action because they were desperate for change. But he didn’t reveal anything we didn’t already feel, and most people are continuing to do what they’ve already been doing: making memes about their malcontent in their comfortable communities.

    I imagine it must feel so disempowering to sacrifice the only thing you think you have left - your free life - in order to spark change, only to watch all those who approve still continue to do nothing at all.

    I like that the solidarity in conversation has drawn more attention to class rather than affiliation, that the profitable infighting between Team A and Team B (Left/Right, urban/rural, etc) has temporarily cooled while Americans look upwards.

    But if there is change, it’s still a while away. The disenfranchised still have something to lose. They still think they can’t matter, and the lack of meaningful change will continue to prove that to them. Complacent malcontent.

    It must be so miserable, being manhandled and denigrated by law enforcement, mistreated and neglected by imprisonment, dehumanized by the self-righteous; and see that the ‘movement’ your last hurrah inspired was the internet’s Meme Flavour of the Month. The sheer impotence of watching everybody laugh and keep waiting for somebody else to save them.

    I can barely imagine how that must feel. To sacrifice everything and watch the world laugh.