{"id":75709,"date":"2024-12-12T13:15:15","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T18:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=75709"},"modified":"2025-08-11T10:53:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T14:53:52","slug":"how-an-assassination-reminds-us-that-nothing-is-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/how-an-assassination-reminds-us-that-nothing-is-normal\/","title":{"rendered":"How an Assassination Reminds Us That Nothing is Normal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It’s a mad world – and it has been for years. (Credit: PXHere<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Much of America, over the past week, has been consumed with the murder<\/a> of a health insurance<\/a> executive, and the chase that unfolded in its wake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those re-emerging from comas or caves, a bit of catch-up: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down Dec. 4 on a New York City street. While dining at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Penn., on Monday, suspect Luigi Mangione<\/a>, 26, was taken into custody. The internet has not been able to get enough of this dramatic tale, one full of symbolic bits of evidence<\/a> and featuring a classically handsome suspect with a compelling narrative<\/a>. But if you dig just a bit deeper, you\u2019ll see that Americans are largely enthralled because they see the victim at this story\u2019s center as a pain profiteer \u2013 as he pulled in a $10.2 million salary<\/a> working in the healthcare industry\u2019s C-suite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thompson had been en route to an annual investors meeting when he was shot \u2013 convening with a group of suits in early-morning hours to discuss the vast sums<\/a> they made as patients suffered and died<\/a> en masse, because they withheld medical treatments<\/a>. It\u2019s not just UnitedHealthcare \u2013 America\u2019s whole health insurance apparatus quantifiably harms<\/a> its subscribers, while those without access<\/a> die by the tens of thousands every year. It\u2019s a system that disproportionately harms our most vulnerable communities, over and over again, through the denial of vital care. As such, some have heralded Thompson\u2019s killer as a hero of the people<\/a> \u2013 a notion which has been met by strong disapproval from many in society<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I\u2019ve been mostly struck by however \u2013 when I observe this entire situation from a bird\u2019s eye view \u2013 is how utterly and completely not-normal things are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How not-normal things have been for years, actually.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Related<\/h4>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\n \n \"Michelle\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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\n \n DNC’s Most Powerful Lesson:\u00a0 \u2018When They Go Low,\u2019 People Must Fight Back\n <\/a>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n

We\u2019re All Mad Here<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In March 2020, Covid entered our collective reality, following months of rumbles and whispers about a new virus taking hold. Until vaccines<\/a> came along over a year later, many of us stayed socially distanced and scared \u2013 living through a mass, long-term horror in relative isolation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When things began opening back up in earnest, the demands of our capitalist society pressured us to \u201cget back to normal\u201d as quickly as possible \u2013 at least, those of us who had not been deemed essential workers, who toiled away through the worst of it. But we weren\u2019t told to return because those in power recognized how much we yearned for one another \u2013 they mandated us back into offices so that commercial rents could be justified<\/a>. They urged us back into the habits of shopping and dining out, so the money could flow once more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we collectively leaned into it, at least at first, because we were so desperate to reconnect that we embraced any opportunity we could get to see and be together. To feel like ourselves again. To access the forgotten ease of those comparatively less complicated \u201cbefore\u201d times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we never stopped to process any of what we had been through \u2013 we never got a chance. And it\u2019s to our continued collective detriment. We never stopped to accept that those \u201cbefore\u201d times are in fact gone, and gone for good. And we never stopped to grieve \u2013 not the millions we lost<\/a> (and are still losing<\/a>) to Covid, and not the lives we once envisioned for ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atop that lack of resolution, a swirling mania has only intensified on both micro and macro levels, with everything growing ever more expensive<\/a>, more hateful<\/a> \u2013 just, harder. We\u2019re desperate for necessary resources, from clean air<\/a> and water<\/a> to safe food<\/a>. We\u2019re still sick<\/a>, and still dying needlessly<\/a>. And \u2013 we\u2019re still lonely<\/a> and depressed<\/a> as hell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ruling class, meanwhile, has become more oppressive<\/a>, more conservative<\/a>, and more motivated by greed<\/a> these past few years. And through the tumult, the richest among us profited<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would posit that, now, we\u2019re seeing the cracks that splinter out when one tries to build and grow atop such a critically damaged foundation. We\u2019re seeing the desperate measures that desperate times can create. It\u2019s mass hysteria of the most understandable order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cowboy justice is a slippery slope, and I won\u2019t condone it. But I also refuse to pretend it\u2019s an impossible response to comprehend, even sympathize with, from a society that is hungry and frightened and crying \u2013 and whose class consciousness is ever rising while the Thompsons of the world reap the profits generated by our flailing attempts to find safety and solace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or, as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren<\/a> more succinctly put it: \u201cThis [assassination] is a warning that if you push people hard enough, they lose faith in the ability of their government to make change. Violence is never the answer, but people can be pushed only so far.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Related<\/h4>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\n \n No, Women Should Not Shut Up Just Because Their Opinions Challenge Your Own\n <\/a>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n

Building a New Way<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Our myriad problems \u2013 the economic<\/a>, the ecological<\/a>, the emotional<\/a> \u2013 will not be solved topically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, to be clear, those at the top \u2013 that is, our political and financial leaders \u2013 should be taking on far more responsibility in this regard. But what I mean is, we will need to go far deeper, to the very roots of us, for longer-lasting treatments and cures to what ails us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

True, part of the solution will come from, as Mr. Fred Rogers famously put it, looking for the helpers, and finding comfort and hope in their ongoing acts of good. And part of it will surely come from being<\/em> the helpers. Rogers\u2019 advice was intended for children, after all \u2013 we adults should, if anything, look to the helpers for guidance, women in particular. Those who have been in the trenches of direct, communal help for years, who can show us how to tangibly assist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there\u2019s another layer to get to \u2013 one that involves opening our eyes to behold the full truth: We are not okay, and we haven\u2019t been for a long time. We can debate when the backslide started, and we should acknowledge that, in several critical ways, things have never been alright. But one especially significant dip came from scraping through a global trauma \u2013 it shattered us, and continues to shatter us. We must go bone-deep to repair such fractures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A world has been created by the powerful that cannot support thriving life. Everyday people are now anguished and terrified enough to kill. To celebrate killing<\/a>. We\u2019ll solve none of the pain and rot behind that by slapping a Band-Aid on it \u2013 even if that\u2019s all that we\u2019re approved for. ◼️<\/p>\n\n\n

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Related<\/h4>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\n \n This Holiday Season, Won\u2019t You Consider Fighting With Family and Friends?\n <\/a>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson\u2019s murder is born of a world that went haywire years ago. If we want to solve anything, we must acknowledge that, Candice Helfand-Rogers writes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":75710,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":false,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19648],"tags":[21343,20478,19645,21342],"class_list":["post-75709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-economic-disparity","tag-healthcare-inequality","tag-opinion","tag-societal-trauma"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRead an Op-Ed on UHC CEO Gunman, Covid, Election 2024<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson\u2019s murder is born of a world that went haywire. 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Please contact candice@thestoryexchange.org with questions or pitches.","sameAs":["https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/author\/candice-leigh-helfand\/"],"url":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/author\/candice-leigh-helfand\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75709"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75736,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75709\/revisions\/75736"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}