US Healthcare CEO Murdered - Please read mod note at OP

The billionaire class of the USA must be feeling particularly nervous right about now. Here's something that is finding a base of support from across the political spectrum in the U.S. and directly concerns their profits, their business practices and, indeed, their very wellbeing if they're particularly evil. What invented culture war nonsense will they attempt to get promoted in order to distract the electorate this time?

Has the narrative moved to him being popular with shareholders for his business achievements?

Has his insider trading just been retconned away to make him seem like an innocent wee dote?

Brian Thompson's boss Andre Whitty still seems to be doing terrible pr. Even in the nytimes the readers are schewing his deluded opinion piece. They should forget trying to salvage the CEOs reputation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/13/opinion/united-health-care-brian-thompson-luigi-mangione.html

The comments are right on the money though. For all Witty's talk about striving to improve his company and always putting the customer first, he has the power to change things for the better tomorrow if he really wanted to. That would eat into his profits however so it will be business as usual.

What I'm finding even more bizarre is, and I feel like I'm wearing a tinfoil hat saying this, that the left leaning mainstream media are also pushing some of these narratives.

In the case of the CEO shooting, Americans must feel gaslit by the reporting.

Maybe John Stewart should have called the CEO 'scum' and a 'parasite' instead?

Maybe many people are uncomfortable lauding a murderer?

And I'd say posters have given plenty of reasons why such an individual is far from a good person. He was making deeply unethical and immoral decisions to optimise profits. That's not a justification for murdering him, that's simply understanding why the US reaction to his death has been largely unsympathetic. People have gone into debt or simply died as a result of such policies from the insurance industry. Don't speak ill of the dead is a pretty simple way of whitewashing people and I strongly doubt you'd be coming out with this mantra if a common criminal was murdered.

I absolutely do not view him a hero for the record but do think it was more a matter of time before such an event had occurred.

The only people calling Mangione a hero are you.

Seriously? you know it's not the norm to put the victim on trial don't you?

So would you be grand with a spot of investigation of the character of all murder victims as a general rule? To see whether they were nasty enough people to create mitigating circumstances even though the killer had probably never spoken to his victim in his life, and, it turns out, was not even registered with his company?

Would you be happy with others doing the same if someone in your family ever gets murdered?

Not on here but quite a few American 'news' outlets.

Thing is, the vast majority of posters are in agreement that he didn't deserve to be murdered. This doesn't mean we should rewrite him into a decent person. The reality is that plenty of normal Americans are unsympathetic towards him because of lives being effectively destroyed through death or debt or untreated debilitating illnesses caused by United Healthcare. You seem to want to downplay as it as a serious issue and just complain that they're not campaigning enough which is pretty cold hearted on your part.

Interesting viewpoints as to how a trial might go - seemingly certain that there would be a psychological defence, basically that he was emotionally disturbed at the time of the murder.

I do expect the trial to be about the system of heath insurance and the emotional toll it can take on people.

Would a jury convict? Probably. There’s supposedly a litany of evidence and assuming a jury of 12 he would need at least 3 steadfast supporters to refuse a guilty verdict and even then that would just go to a new trial.

Wouldnt be surprised to see him get manslaughter and 15 years if a trial goes ahead.