America Runs On Violence
And that bubble you live in is not bullet-proof
I always wondered what goes through the mind of mass shooters who target innocent people. If they’re so full of rage that they’re determined to kill, why aren’t they targeting someone they think bears some responsibility?
To be clear, I’m the kind of person who tries to combat injustice by voting, writing opinion pieces and getting involved in politics. The pen may or may not be mightier than the sword, but I have no stomach for swords.
Whoever shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson (gift article from the New York Times) chose a different path.
As soon as I read the news, my mind went right to the book Radicalized by Cory Doctorow.
In the book, a man named Joe is devastated by his wife’s cancer diagnosis. Their insurance carrier won’t cover treatment. Through luck, she recovers, but in the meantime he’s become active in an online support group for people whose loved ones are dying of cancer.
The support group morphs into something darker.
Joe offers emotional support to the father of a 6-year-old with brain cancer whose insurance won’t cover the child’s treatment. After the funeral, the child’s father uses a bomb to take out his insurance company’s headquarters. The father leaves a video behind that he’s not doing it for revenge but as a public service. He predicts that others will do the same, and he’s right.
Such incidents become as common as school shootings
Insurance company executives begin running scared, and the pressure to adopt universal health care rises.
Joe goes to prison because although he tried to talk the bombers out of committing violent acts, he didn’t report them to the police. While he’s imprisoned he learns a healthcare bill has finally passed.
“Who says violence doesn’t solve anything?” Joe says on the last page of the book.
Doctorow’s book is far from a celebration of violence. Joe is an entirely sympathetic character, but in the end he accepts some prison time in a plea deal.
Laws are supposed to serve society
It’s entirely lawful to accept thousands of dollars per year in insurance payments and then to refuse to use that money to pay for that person’s care – even if it’s clear the person will die without it.
It’s also entirely lawful for a healthcare CEO like Thompson to accept a compensation package of $10.2 million, fully understanding that he could have opted to make, let’s say $200,000, which would have made $10 million available for things like little girls with brain cancer.
It’s also entirely lawful for greedy people to exploit from workers most of the world’s wealth while fully understanding that some of those they exploit will die of want. Exploiting others is not merely lawful: You’re likely to be celebrated for it!
And honestly, none of us is perfect. Have I given my last dollar to another person who is hungry or in pain? I have not. Maybe there’s a line, somewhere, between trying to do the right thing most of the time and going all-in on exploiting others, but I’d hate to try to figure out where that line is … especially if there’s death on the other side of it.
America does not have the best medical care in the world
We do have the most expensive medical care in the world, though. We chose this system. We can choose a different one.
There’s another book, one I haven’t read, called Delay Deny Defend by Jay. M. Feinman. It’s a bestseller on Amazon today, and I’m fairly certain it wasn’t two days ago.
But shell casings found at the scene of Thompson’s shooting had words including “deny” and “delay” on them, according to the Times story.
That’s a pretty clear reference.
Americans seem a little pissed off lately
Maybe you’ve noticed.
Most Americans fully understand that Trump is a terrible person, but that did not keep some of them from voting for him. Some people went directly from supporting Bernie Sanders to supporting Trump – two men whose politics and beliefs could not be more different.
What morphs a Sanders supporter into a Trumper? A lot of people are tired of patiently waiting for the system to start working for them. Some of them just want to burn it all down, assuming that whatever comes next will be better than this business as usual.
I think history has shown us that that is not true
But if enough rage grows within enough hearts, we get destruction. An angry man who can’t do anything about his asshole boss who screwed him over might go home and punch a hole in his kitchen wall. In so doing, he hurts only himself.
If he gets angry enough, though, he might turn that rage outward toward others. Perhaps he’ll get into a bar fight that night, or maybe he’ll attack his boss. But that’s not the right way to handle it. He is supposed to just accept it, to figure out a way to move on without getting any justice.
This is, of course, in stark contrast to what our action movies say he should do. I can’t remember any blockbuster movies about a guy who was fucked over and just quietly took it and moved on. We cheer for movies about a little guy who gets back at the system and then we return home and continue to allow ourselves to be exploited as usual.
America runs on violence
It is not a particularly safe place for many people. If you have enough money, you can keep yourself in a bubble where you feel safe, but as Thompson found out, those bubbles aren’t bulletproof.
If I were part of the exploiter class, especially one of the health insurance executives, I’d be pretty scared right now. This might be a one-time attack but it might not be. Maybe the gunman has further plans, or maybe he will inspire copycat attacks.
I live in a small, peaceful town. With no money or power, I’m not a threat to anyone so I don’t have any serious enemies. I am not afraid that some person out there will want to attack me. My big fear is getting sick and the insurance not covering my care – I fear dying for lack of money and leaving my family in economic shambles.
It’s a realistic fear.
Rave to me all you want about the thugs and immigrants and gangs that are supposedly taking over this country. But you will not be able to convince me that they are my biggest threat. The thug I most fear is my insurance company. I do not think I’m the only one.
We don’t have to tear it all down or start shooting the oligarchs. We could just start doing the right thing, starting with universal healthcare, sensible gun control and taking the money out of elections via overturning Citizens United. I have a few other ideas, too. What are yours?
About Michelle Teheux
I’m a writer in central Illinois. If you like my work, subscribe to me here or on Medium. My most recent novel is The Trailer Park Rules. Tips accepted here.
Another brilliant read, Michelle. And yeah, totally with you on the thug I am most concerned about. As a recent breast cancer survivor, I am aware that from now on, my medical records have a new type of scarlet letter emblazoned on every form: C. The thought of recurrence is terrifying enough but the possibility of insurance denials make it even more frightful.
On another note. I had an appendectomy about 4 years ago. The bills was 425K. That was for a 23 hour hospital stay and a 20 minute surgery. I saved the EOB just because there are still moments where I wonder if I confabulated such an outrageous charge.
With this also in my history, I can't help but wonder if denials will be more likely because I'm a liability that threatens the shareholder profits.
There should never, ever be a profit motive in health care. Capitalizing on the suffering of humans is despicable.
You are very correct. Americans are very angry with everything right now and it is starting to show. Between the election in November, and little things like this shooting are red flags that are likely being ignored by the elitists. The CEO's and executives will hire extra security for a while until they think things have quieted down.
Underneath all of this is a simmering anger that will boil over sometime soon. I would say right about the time everyone realizes that Trump lied to everyone again.