A toxic stew of grievance, violence and social media

It didn’t take long, did it? Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed. Before police had finished cordoning off the crime scene, social media was on fire, turning the alleged shooter into some kind of folk hero. 

To more than a few Americans, Luigi Mangione, the man arrested and charged with killing Thompson, wasn’t a cold-blooded killer but rather a righteous vigilante standing up to corporate greed. He’s even been dubbed the “hot assassin” because of a shirtless picture that revealed him showing off his abs. 

Here’s the reality: A man was shot in the back on a New York City street. You’d think that, at the very least, we could all agree that that’s wrong without adding phrases like, “but there are times when even murder is understandable.” 

Sure, in a country of 335 million people, you’re bound to find a few folks willing to support just about any wild idea. “I’m sorry, prior authorization is required for thoughts and prayers,” was the message from one social media post that went viral. “Unfortunately thoughts and prayers are out-of-network,” was another.

But this isn’t only about a handful of angry individuals posting nasty comments on social media. 

Consider what two U.S. senators had to say about Thompson’s killing. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the progressive Democrat, told HuffPost, “The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the health care system.” 

And she added that, “Violence is never the answer, but people can be pushed only so far. This is a warning that if you push people hard enough, they ... start to take matters into their own hands in ways that will ultimately be a threat to everyone.”

Another progressive, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chimed in with his take: “I think what the outpouring of anger at the health care industry tells us is that ... you cannot have people in the insurance industry rejecting needed health care for people while they make billions of dollars in profit.”

No, neither senator endorsed the killing — and it would be unfair to suggest that either of them did. Warren actually walked back her comments, saying, “I should have been much clearer that there is never a justification for murder.”

Okay, but let’s just say her comments and those of Sanders didn’t exactly pour cold water on the fire.

And in a blog post that ran under the headline “Why ‘we’ want insurance executives dead,” journalist Taylor Lorenz wrote, “No, that does not mean people should murder them. But if you’ve watched a loved one suffer and die from insurance denial, it’s normal to wish the people responsible would suffer the same fate.”

The fact that prominent voices are playing into this narrative — that violence may be wrong but explainable — is deeply troubling, and that’s putting it mildly. Any time we normalize harmful behavior — even if that wasn’t the intent — it’s not good for the culture, certainly not for a culture as polarized as ours. 

But make no mistake: This isn’t only about the outrage over UnitedHealthcare. It’s about something much bigger.

For decades, corporations — and not only those in the health care business — have been painted as the villains in American life. Yes, some of the criticism is deserved. Corporations are there to make money, and the people who run them have been known to, at times, put bottom-line interests ahead of the concerns of their customers. 

But when does legitimate criticism cross the line into vilification and violence? If we decide that CEOs aren’t just part of a broken system but are themselves evil, violence starts to look less like a crime and more like justice in some people’s eyes.

And here’s where it gets even messier: Social media has made every grievance, every act of outrage, go viral in seconds. It’s a giant amplifier for the angriest voices in the room. It’s no wonder extreme ideas that used to be confined to the shadows now feel mainstream.

But this isn’t entirely new. Back in the 1970s, left-wing groups like the Weather Underground justified bombings as acts of protest. Same in the 1990s (and beyond), with right-wing militia violence. In every case, there was this underlying idea that the cause was so righteous it excused the crime. The difference now is that we’re no longer shocked by any of this. We’ve become desensitized. 

So, what’s the fix? For starters, leaders — political, cultural, media and otherwise — need to step up. Instead of offering half-baked “I can understand the frustration” remarks, they need to draw a clear, bright line: Murder is wrong, period. 

But I suspect that as we became more tolerant over the years of all the good things — civil rights, gay rights, women’s rights — we became indiscriminately tolerant. We tolerated all sorts of conduct that not too long ago would have been considered way out of line, such as people dropping F-bombs in public, to use one example. And so, for some Americans, even murder is condoned, or at least understood, so long as the cause is “just.”

The challenge is to figure out where to draw the line on tolerance. Because if we’re so open-minded that we’re willing to justify murder, something in this country has gone way off the rails.

If killing the head of a health care company can be justified, who’s next?

Bernard Goldberg is an Emmy and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University award-winning writer and journalist. He is the author of five books and publishes exclusive weekly columns, audio commentaries and Q&As on his Substack page.