Less than two weeks after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down on the streets of midtown Manhattan, his alleged assassin Luigi Mangione has been greeted not by universal condemnation for the brazen violence – but rather, a surge of enthusiastic support online for his so-called vigilante justice.
The Center for Internet Security (CIS), a nonprofit focused on cybersecurity that partners with government and law enforcement, released a new threat assessment bulletin warning that online support for the alleged shooter risks encouraging copycat attacks.
“Overwhelming bipartisan support for the attack” across social media “has resulted in several narratives encouraging similar violent activities directed at other healthcare executive teams,” CIS analysts said.
“The narratives supporting Mangione’s targeted attack likely serve to encourage like-minded individuals, particularly as Mangione continues to be viewed by the public as an ‘American hero’ and sympathetic figure,” CIS’ bulletin said.
Let’s compare:
Osama Bin Ladin/Brian Robert Thompson
Number killed by own hands: 0/0
Number killed through orders to underlings: 3,000/51,000
Reason for killings: religious and geopolitical reasons/profit motive
Cause of death: execution by gunshot/execution by gunshot
Date of trial for killings: N/A / N/A
Date of issue of death sentence for killings: N/A / N/A
Response to killing: celebration by US president on national TV, celebration by commoners and elites / celebration by commoners, condemnation by elite.
Consequence to assassins for extra-judicial slaying: national praise / indicted for 2nd degree murder
Race and class: weird Arab guy in traditional garb / rich white man in a a suit
Where does the 51,000 figure come from?
About 68,000 Americans die each year from improper denials of necessary care. With UHC’s share of the private health insurance market and higher than average denial of claims, a conservative figure is 40 UHC customers per day dying from denial of care. Brian Robert Thompson served as the CEO of UHC for approximately 3.5 years. That comes to about 51,000 people dead at the hands of Brian Robert Thompson.
Is it fair to pin all of UHC’s murders on one man? Maybe not. But he gleefully took credit for the record profits that came from UHC’s soaring denial rates. He earned an obscene salary and bonuses from the record profits that those deaths produced. He took credit for all the consequences of these deaths; it is entirely reasonable to hold him morally culpable for them.
Make no mistake. Brian Robert Thompson killed approximately 51,000 people, or about 17 times as many people as Osama Bin Ladin. Brian Robert Thompson suffered for seconds. Osama Bin Ladin’s victims suffered for about an hour. Brian Robert Thompson’s victims suffered for months to years. And this is just deaths, not those who suffered injury, debilitation, or bankruptcy at Brian Robert Thompson’s hands.
Thanks for the response. Truly despicable the state of medical insurance.
Thank you. I have been very interested in a number of attributable deaths, and the comparison is an added bonus
I would say “my pleasure,” but this brings me none. It’s not a perfect estimate, but it is a reasonable first order one. The real number is likely somewhere between 30k and 70k. But really, at this scale, the numbers lose all meaning.
Luigi Mangione did not have the right to serve as Thompon’s one man judge, jury, and executioner. But make no mistake, according to all available evidence, Brian Robert Thompson was a mass murderer an order of magnitude worse than Osama Bin Ladin. When he hit the pavement on that New York morning, he did not stop falling. He kept falling, and falling, and falling. Right into the Pit of Hell itself. If there is a Hell behind this mortal realm, he is almost certainly burning there right now.
I like your way of thinking
Many thanks for bringing to light these facts and comparisons.