“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.
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.
We’re less than two weeks out and I think the real legacy of this assassination isn’t going to be seen immediately. If someone has been heavily influenced by the example that Luigi is setting, only an idiot would be posting about it online.
Just the very fact that people are praising this action is going to be the green light for some people. I’m not surprised that most people aren’t taking to the streets en mass, but I don’t think people are going to forget this moment either.
If it was or wasn’t him (and was someone else), it doesn’t change that the action (or PotD) was the correct move imo. “Correct” forms of protests and legal actions only work so much in a system rigged against the working class. But the “peaceful” options never work against the rich/corporations. So I kind of hope more CEOs in all industries meet the same punishment for all lives that they have played with. Even if we are shown that dude hates leftists, doesn’t change my critical support of his (or whomever it was if not him) action. But it will be very important for leftist orgs/groups/collectives to start going hard for waking up the masses while there is such a good point of unity to work from.
I think he is being framed by the cops who are unable or unwilling to find the actual killer
He’s the face of a shithead corpo and had responsibility to make shithead decisions for shareholders where he indirectly caused deaths of thousands.
It’s a vigilante move where Luigi is the hero. He should go through the justice system with a gofundme team of lawyers.
A cold (maybe rational?) thought: some assassinations are milestones of time; this could be one.
From my point of view: we could feel bad thinking was a “good” assassination, but we’ve also to think about all the people murdered by UnitedHealth. For the average media is simple to manipulate narration, even without saying the false: he had children, he had a family; we could say the same about many officials of the German Army in WWII, they had families too.
Thompson’s sons are not assassin’s victims, they are victim of the system. Also Thompson himself could maybe seen as a collateral victim.
I’m waiting to have more information about the assassin to formulate a thought about him (could be a big misinformation about), my comment is about the fact in general.
he had children, he had a family; we could say the same about many officials of the German Army in WWII, they had families too.
He had been living separately from his family for some time. He had a DUI conviction. On the same day that the company suffered a ransomeware attack that wiped $46B from it’s market cap, he dumped $1.5M of his stock and along with others, was being investigated.
The media has obviously done a whitewash of the guy, as it’s in their class interests but to call him a piece of shit would be going lightly.
