How did a healthcare CEO become a target of such violent hatred? | Francine Prose
I’m horrified by the assassination of Brian Thompson. I’m also horrified that we let people die without medical careAssassinations are despicable. I don’t much care if the targets are politicians or mafia bosses. It’s the method I despise. For those who are old enough to remember the killing of Patrice Lumumba, then JFK, then Malcolm X, then MLK, then RFK, every assassination is (I hate this word) a trigger. Assassinations are destabilizing. The shooting of Archduke Franz Ferdinand set off the first world war. Targeted violence has always been a sign – an augury – that the social order is breaking down. I would have preferred to see Osama bin Laden brought to justice so that we might have understood his methods and motives. I know that trials can be rigged, corrupted, biased, but so far the courtroom is the best place we have in which to decide between guilt and innocence – and to assign an appropriate punishment. Assassination is a death sentence without benefit of judge or jury.All of which is to say that I was deeply horrified by the assassination of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, in cold blood, in broad daylight, in front of the Hilton hotel, in Manhattan.Francine Prose is a former president of PEN American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Continue reading...
I’m horrified by the assassination of Brian Thompson. I’m also horrified that we let people die without medical care
Assassinations are despicable. I don’t much care if the targets are politicians or mafia bosses. It’s the method I despise. For those who are old enough to remember the killing of Patrice Lumumba, then JFK, then Malcolm X, then MLK, then RFK, every assassination is (I hate this word) a trigger. Assassinations are destabilizing. The shooting of Archduke Franz Ferdinand set off the first world war. Targeted violence has always been a sign – an augury – that the social order is breaking down. I would have preferred to see Osama bin Laden brought to justice so that we might have understood his methods and motives. I know that trials can be rigged, corrupted, biased, but so far the courtroom is the best place we have in which to decide between guilt and innocence – and to assign an appropriate punishment. Assassination is a death sentence without benefit of judge or jury.
All of which is to say that I was deeply horrified by the assassination of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, in cold blood, in broad daylight, in front of the Hilton hotel, in Manhattan.
Francine Prose is a former president of PEN American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Continue reading...
