The CEO Shooter

America says its intrusive thoughts out loud

Nearly a week ago we all awoke to news of the United Healthcare CEO's murder in midtown Manhattan, and to the surprise of the news media, and probably ourselves, it didn't spur on a debate about gun control or really politics at all. To our astonishment, we all sat on the same side of the aisle and found ourselves goading a kind of Robin Hood figure who took on big evil on our behalf.

Investigators looked over the scene where the UnitedHealthcare chief executive, Brian Thompson, was fatally shot in front of a Midtown hotel - The NY Times

Most religions have some form of "don't kill" in their big books. In the third (of ten) commandments for both Judaism and Christianity, it's "do not murder." In Islam, "don't kill" is a fundamental tenet. In Hinduism, to kill is a "grave sin." However, all these religions, and many others, have clear caveats for taking down perceived evil. The Bible clarifies "unlawful killing" is bad. The Quran specifies "innocent life" shall not be taken. And in the context of "Dharma Yuddha" (righteous war), Hindus believe in the right of self-defense.

Brian Thompson, left, and the person of interest - People Magazine

It might've helped if we'd had another Thomas Matthew Crooks or your run-of-the-mill DC Sniper, but this was a kid with charm, swagger, and clear intent, blurring the lines of social mores and age-old folk heroes. And the other guy, well, he's the face of a company that used AI to turn away 90% of insurance claims, most in error, leaving people to die in their beds of curable diseases. He was being sued for insider trading after selling off $15 million worth of United Health shares. So who's the bad guy here?

"We aren’t here to defend UnitedHealthcare or the insurance industry, which all too often preys on customers," Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times wrote in his daily DealBook newsletter. "But celebrating a murder is simply wrong, and it could lead to more violence against others. What it is unlikely to do is change the way companies behave. That will come only with regulation — and rational conversations. The threat of violence should not be the inspiration for that discussion."

“Celebrating a murder is simply wrong, and it could lead to more violence against others.” - Andrew Ross Sorkin, The New York Times

And people did, they responded pretty positively (negatively?) to the whole thing, commenting on the now-identified Luigi Mangione's good looks in comparison with the high cost of deductibles. Many even went so far as to say, "Don't snitch if you know this guy." And unlike the DC Sniper or Boston Bomber, we went about our days, unafraid of the manhunt going on around us. Maybe even excited to catch a glimpse. Some offering to "hide him like Anne Frank."

"We’ve been particularly struck by the perverse fandom that has emerged for the killer as some kind of rebuke of the health insurance industry." - Andrew Ross Sorkin

But unlike the Trump assassination attempt, where we all held our heads high, or at least pretended to, quickly posting on every social media platform that we absolutely did not condone violence of any kind, this time around America let its guard down and its intrusive thoughts out. And despite the media's utter shock at our misbehavior, they happily played into it, which turned out to be the actual news story in the interim.

But now he's in custody, another bad guy caught off-guard eating an Egg McMuffin in Nowheresville, USA. Now we know he did it and the FBI--despite our qualms about how no one that good-looking could ever commit a crime--was right. He's just another guy with a gun and a vendetta, but this time the vendetta was ours, too.

So go about your day, back to your religion, and watch your footing as you climb back on that high horse. Go back to forgetting that for a minute none of us really wanted gun control; we wanted the gun. Go back to being pro-life, and forget you kind of didn't mind it just this once. Go back to voting in CEOs for government leadership, and forget that just a week ago you wanted to deny, defend and depose their asses.

We saw ourselves a little more clearly this past week, that we're not as squeaky-clean as we thought we were at the voting booths or at Sunday morning mass.

And now that it's over, how do we unring the bell?

Walt Disney’s Robin Hood, 1973

Ellie is an author, editor, and owner of Red Pencil Transcripts, and works with filmmakers, podcasts, and journalists all over the world. She lives with her family just outside of New York City, and is represented by Vicki Marsdon at High Spot Literary.