This is How the Universe Works
Why do you seem so surprised?
This is perplexing. I’m perplexed.
When I heard that the death of United Healthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, was probably motivated by revenge, my first thought was “Huh…I wonder what took so long.”
Like anyone else who’s used the internet in the past two weeks, I noticed the reaction to his death vacillate between apathy and joy. And I thought “Yeah, that tracks.”
So, when I heard about the shock and disgust leveled at a broad swath of the internet by elite journalists, elected officials, successful internet grifters, and the generally very rich, I got confused. Why are they surprised by this? After all, this is how the Universe works.
If you talk to anyone who describes themselves as ‘spiritual’, there is a basic law that they likely accept. Some people call it the Law of Attraction. Some folks might call it karma. That’s inexact, but we can work with it. Some just describe it with that quaint phrase “what goes around, comes around”. The idea is simply that what you put out into the Universe is what you’re going to get back. Last week, millions of people saw that law in action. And for perhaps the first time, many of them experienced an order to the Universe they might have forgotten existed.
This is not meant to be an indictment of the late Brian Thompson or his life. Although, we should note that he was accused of fraud and was being sued for insider trading. He also authorized an algorithm at UHC for automatically denying claims; an algorithm that allegedly has a 90% error rate. At this point, though, the accusations about Thompson and the reactions to his death are less about him than what he represented; UHC and the health insurance industry writ large.
If we ranked every profession in America, health insurance company CEO would fall just below that gooey, slightly crusty, white stuff that forms at the corner of one’s mouth on a hot, dusty day in a dry wind (and yes, I realize that’s not technically a profession). Any job that makes ‘inner-city slumlord’ look good clearly has more than just PR problems. There are approximately zero individuals who don’t work in the industry that will defend a health insurance company. And for good reason. The health insurance industry consistently pushes out negative energy into the Universe, specifically in the heartless, brutal treatment of it own customers. Is it any wonder why the industry is receiving the ire of tens of millions in the form of shadenfreude after the murder of what most of us assume was an industry champion?
The rebukes have come from all sides of the political spectrum. Matt Walsh and Ben Shapiro have made videos berating the joyful behavior of everyday Americans. They claim the ‘sociopathic’ Left is to blame. Typical. Not to be outdone, we get a righteous tongue lashing from a liberal elite at that bastion of relevance the New Yorker. There’s scientist Bret Stephens who defends Thompson by claiming it’s more important to point out where he came from (working class) than where he ended up (rich, uncaring corporatist). Then there’s the Atlantic which attacks the alleged shooter Luigi Mangione’s politics as if the rest of us actually care. Seems it’s easy to look down upon the more vulnerable when you’re well-covered by your employer…or simply rich enough to be self-insured… or when your entire job is to maintain the status quo. Unfortunately for these elite gatekeepers and self-anointed ‘adults in the room’, their protestations just sound paternalistic, self-serving, and make the majority of Americans hate them even more.
Here’s the thing. If you’re member of the health insurance industry elite, it makes perfect sense why you’re so disturbed by this murder. Thompson was one of your own. He was a peer, a colleague, a member of your set, your tribe. It’s natural to be upset by something like this. Especially if you knew the man. Anyone would be. But your and your surrogates’ revulsion at the internet’s response tells us that you’re ignoring an essential truth: We are all connected to each other by the same fundamental rules that make up the fabric of Everything. You’ve been so very privileged for so very long that you’ve forgotten that you’re part of that fabric too. You’ve forgotten that the same consequences that affect the rest of us still apply to you. The only differences between you and the rest of us are a few digits on a bank computer screen and your Senator’s phone number on speed dial. Well, here’s a refresher. When we forget important lessons, the Universe is always there to remind us.
I understand that you want to make your own sense of this. You want to blame circumstances that can’t be controlled. You want to claim that there are just bad people out there who commit random acts. But in the words of Jules Winnfield, “That shit ain’t the truth”. The murder of one of your own in this context is not a consequence of the breakdown of morality, of civility, of society. It is not a sad commentary on the state of young people or video games or violence on television or poor parenting. It’s a message from the Universe. This is on you. And the response from regular people should tell you it’s much more than just a PR problem on your part. Again, this shouldn’t surprise you. This is how the Universe works.
If you continually push people to their breaking point, eventually they will break.
Thompson’s murder was not just some beef between two men who had never met each other. For whatever reason Luigi shot (allegedly) the CEO, it has turned out to be part of a much bigger picture. Violence begets violence. And make no mistake, a business model designed to deny health care to paying customers is violence. The first shot of the American Revolution, the storming of the Bastille in France, the Haitian Revolution in 1791. These were all large scale, natural reactions to sustained neglect, oppression, and violence. Now, it’s hard to say whether any structural change in the US health care system will be born from this particular incident. Our history strongly implies there won’t be. The fact remains. Eventually, someone was going to shoot a corporate CEO and spark just such a response. If nothing changes, it’s will certainly happen again.
This doesn’t make Luigi a hero (well, sort of), and it doesn’t make Thompson a villain (even though he kind of is). It does, however, speak to balance. In general, you get what you give. That applies to our so-called ‘heroes’ too. Unfortunately for Luigi, he has to deal with his own consequences now. Then again, so do all of us.
There are alternatives that could end this type of violence. They start with kindness. Compassion. Love. Of course, these policies are antithetical to the corporate bottom line. They mean happier customers, public good will, and lower profit margins. They build community and trust. They also mean taking an active role in lowering the cost of health care across the board. That doesn’t work in a for-profit health care system. So unless that system changes, the violence to and from won’t change either.
On a fundamental level, we should celebrate this event. At the very least we should honor it. Why? Because it reminds us that there is order in the Cosmos. As so many of us wander, dazed and terrified by the chaos of this world, this is a beautiful reminder that ‘what goes around, comes around’ is universal. We often feel like we’re just stumbling through a dog-eat-dog world, beat down by the high costs of everything. Economic uncertainty, war, violence, politics…it all adds up to a crazy existence that resembles a daily crap shoot. But now, after a generation of frustration and anger over a for-profit health care system that doesn’t work, the Universe has spoken. Just like it was bound to. This informs why so many people across the political spectrum are cheering for Luigi. His actions have been, well, comforting. Call it murder, call it justice, call it whatever you want. The Universe finds a way to dole out what it receives. That’s just how it works.
Cover Photo: SciTechDaily
exceptionally well laid out.