It's remarkable yet really not surprising how the overwhelming reaction to this shooting is that it was almost inevitable. Whether or not people actually approve of the violence is almost beside the point; the point is that when corporations mistreat people the way United Health has done, this is what happens.
(Here is an example of the mistreatment: I read this morning that United Health implemented an algorithm for AI-powered claims review that has an error rate of 90%. Why would they do that? Because they know that only 0.2% of those who are denied will have the knowledge and resources to fight the decision.)
JFK said, "Those who make peaceful evolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." He was speaking of Latin America, but he might as well have been talking about the corporate takeover of the US. At this point, corporations like United Health have achieved "regulatory capture"; they control Congress and influence judicial appointments to such a degree that they can always find a friendly audience in the federal courts (in fact, they barely even bother to disguise their bribery of Supreme Court justices).
When robber barons run roughshod over the public, and ordinary Americans can't check their power through elections and the courts, it's hardly surprising that violence has become inevitable.
And instead of decrying the way the public has greeted this news (e.g., 65,000 laughing emojis on United Health's Facebook page since the shooting), America's political and media leaders ought to be asking themselves WHY corporations are allowed to exercise a degree of power that would have made Jay Gould and John J. Rockefeller blush.
I'm also reading Jeremiah this morning—the prophet whose rage and tears speak especially to what America is today. In a way, he has already posted his comment about the health insurance industry and the events of this week:
If people could understand that this man is another victim of the system he perpetuated (but did not create), then we might be on our way toward something that looks like justice. Otherwise, his death is bloody spectacle, nothing more.
Of course he actively participated in it. I'm not saying he doesn't bear responsibility for his own actions. I'm saying he was part of a brutal system that has ruined or destroyed many lives, and his life is among them. As is the shooter's. Making this a story of heroes and villains misses the larger issue that we've organized our whole society around a heartless game in which money rules and life is cheap.
It's remarkable yet really not surprising how the overwhelming reaction to this shooting is that it was almost inevitable. Whether or not people actually approve of the violence is almost beside the point; the point is that when corporations mistreat people the way United Health has done, this is what happens.
(Here is an example of the mistreatment: I read this morning that United Health implemented an algorithm for AI-powered claims review that has an error rate of 90%. Why would they do that? Because they know that only 0.2% of those who are denied will have the knowledge and resources to fight the decision.)
JFK said, "Those who make peaceful evolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." He was speaking of Latin America, but he might as well have been talking about the corporate takeover of the US. At this point, corporations like United Health have achieved "regulatory capture"; they control Congress and influence judicial appointments to such a degree that they can always find a friendly audience in the federal courts (in fact, they barely even bother to disguise their bribery of Supreme Court justices).
When robber barons run roughshod over the public, and ordinary Americans can't check their power through elections and the courts, it's hardly surprising that violence has become inevitable.
And instead of decrying the way the public has greeted this news (e.g., 65,000 laughing emojis on United Health's Facebook page since the shooting), America's political and media leaders ought to be asking themselves WHY corporations are allowed to exercise a degree of power that would have made Jay Gould and John J. Rockefeller blush.
I'm also reading Jeremiah this morning—the prophet whose rage and tears speak especially to what America is today. In a way, he has already posted his comment about the health insurance industry and the events of this week:
They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
“Peace, peace,” they say,
when there is no peace.
12 Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
No, they have no shame at all;
they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
they will be brought down when they are punished,
says the Lord.
-- Jeremiah 8:11-12 (NIV)
*nods*
It is overtime for a reset in this country. Overtime!
If people could understand that this man is another victim of the system he perpetuated (but did not create), then we might be on our way toward something that looks like justice. Otherwise, his death is bloody spectacle, nothing more.
Didnt he actively participate in it? Actively? Insider trading, selling shares knowingly a DOJ investigation being underway?
Of course he actively participated in it. I'm not saying he doesn't bear responsibility for his own actions. I'm saying he was part of a brutal system that has ruined or destroyed many lives, and his life is among them. As is the shooter's. Making this a story of heroes and villains misses the larger issue that we've organized our whole society around a heartless game in which money rules and life is cheap.