This is a genuine question.

I have a hard time with this. My righteous side wants him to face an appropriate sentence, but my pessimistic side thinks this might have set a great example for CEOs to always maintain a level of humanity or face unforseen consequences.

P.S. this topic is highly controversial and I want actual opinions so let’s be civil.

And if you’re a mod, delete this if the post is inappropriate or if it gets too heated.

  • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.zip
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    15 days ago

    Nope.

    If Trump can get alway with almost all of his bullshit, if the Supreme Court can just hurr durr away a hundred + years of legal precedent, then this whole system is bullshit.

    Anybody that is charge of or oversees the systemic application of violence toward great numbers of people, who is legally allowed to do so, in a system where the common person has 0 chance of ever altering this system to police itself and actually enact justice by preventing said person from doing that and prosecuting them for their crimes against the people…

    Anyone in such a position should be afraid, should keep suffering consequences until theyfinally figure out that they need to acquiesce to a reformation of the system, need to stop fucking over millions for the grotesque enrichment of thousands.

    When the game is rigged against you, play by your own rules, otherwise you guarantee your own defeat.

  • masquenox@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    Do you want the murderer of the UnitHealthcare CEO prosecuted?

    Nope. Killing a billionaire parasite doesn’t make one a murderer - it merely makes one a credit to the human race.

    P.S. this topic is highly controversial

    Not really.

  • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    From a rule of law perspective the shooter needs to be punished.

    But considering the amount of suffering that CEO and other senior leaders at that company have inflicted on innocent sick people, there’s a big fat dose of karma that goes with this incident, . And I wouldn’t throw the book at the shooter (although you know they will).

  • thawed_caveman@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    I want to live in civilization and i enjoy its benefits, so no, i can’t go around saying someone should be acquitted because the crime was based. We’ve collectively agreed to put the law above our feelings, that’s a good thing, i wish it was done more, so i’m doing my part and preparing to send him cigarettes in prison.

  • BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Yes of course he needs to be prosecuted.

    I get that people hate insurance companies but at the end of the day this was a brutal and cold blooded murder.

    As unhappy as we may be at the state of the world, the last thing anyone should want is for things to be determined by who has the gun and is willing to shoot.

    Having said that though, maybe things are getting beyond the point of no return. Democracy in the US seems to be a joke, and the billionaire class have unfettered power. I worry we’re on trajectory towards violent revolution.

    The ambivelence and even open celebration of a shocking violent murder is a warning sign of how bad things are right now. Across the democratic world countries are devided and in flux because the political class is not listening to voters and in hoc to the billionaires.

    Trump in the US will be a mess. But France and Germany are also in political flux. What we are lacking globally at the moment is an outlet for this mess or a solution. People seem to be divided and unable to coalesce around a solution to the problems. I worry that means more chaos and ultimately violemce to come.

  • Chainweasel@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Do you want to see the people who killed Osama Bin Laden prosecuted?
    Because the United Heath CEO killed far more people, including many more children, than Bin Laden did on 9/11.

  • Pendulum@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    The comments here are what has prompted me to stop using Lemmy altogether. Farewell.

  • Allonzee@lemmy.world
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    16 days ago

    I want jury nullification as it would send the most powerful of messages to Wall Street.

    Won’t happen, but I can dream.

  • RedAggroBest@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    ITT: Nobody understands the difference between being prosecuted and convicted.

    He should absolutely be prosecuted, he murdered someone. Should he be convicted of this murder? Fuck no, and I actually think a jury might agree with me.

  • 2ugly2live@lemmy.world
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    16 days ago

    Honestly, no.

    Not that I’m saying it’s okay to just murder folks, but, with the amount of people the people of his class have killed (either via policies or just the general fucked up shit they do), it seems hypocritical. This man was making 10mil a year killing his customers to fatten his pockets. More money than he could ever spend and still wanted more, like all of them do. People have been killed for less, by police, with them only getting paid leave, so why should I be up in arms now when they called me a terrorist for protesting, when they said “my kind” are damaging the country. People have tried to be reasonable for far too long imo, but the oligarchs just tell us to wait for the trickle down.

    They can wait for my fucks to trickle down 🤷🏿‍♀️

  • Maeve@kbin.earth
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    15 days ago

    I want the executives, boards, and shareholders that effectively murder millions every year to be prosecuted.

  • SkyNTP@lemmy.ml
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    17 days ago

    There is no justice in the US right now. Why bother holding this person accountable when we can’t even hold the highest position in the land accountable for their crimes. The social fabric is unraveling.

  • Thorry84@feddit.nl
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    17 days ago

    Yes.

    Even in a unjust world mob justice isn’t justice. This means a mob deciding someone is guilty and acting out punishment is unjust. But also a mob deciding a crime should go unpunished is unjust.

    There’s plenty wrong with how insurance works and plenty wrong with the justice system. But instead of giving up, we should be trying to fix these issues. It’s all to easy to give in to our basic instincts and point to someone to blame. We punish them instead of fixing the issues. Killing one ceo might feel good, but it doesn’t really change the big picture and in fact constitutes layer upon layer of failure. We should be better than that. History is full of people (singular and groups) being used as a scape goat to deflect and feel like something is being done, whilst in fact not actually fixing anything and just feeding hate.

    Also in a capitalist world, the people with the most money have the most power. If we collectively decide it’s open warfare, purge style distopia, they are going to have the upper hand. So purely from a self interest point of view, it would be better to work on fixing shit instead of reverting to monke.

    • KoboldCoterie@pawb.social
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      17 days ago

      But instead of giving up, we should be trying to fix these issues.

      Genuine question - how long do you think we should try to fix the issues before coming to the conclusion that they can’t be fixed through conventional means? Do you think we should resort to nonconventional resolutions at all, if the conventional ones cease to function or don’t yield results? If not, why not?

      • bizarroland@fedia.io
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        17 days ago

        Nobody actually has an answer to that because there is no answer to it.

        The system is so broken that there is no longer a way to fix it.

        Any processes that could be implemented that have the potential to fix the issues comes from a broken system.

        These processes would then be administered by the broken system.

        Therefore no matter how good the process is, it will end up broken.

        You may say that I am a hopeless person.

        You may say that I am wrong and there is obviously something that can be done that has not yet been done.

        I would say you are right, but experience indicates that although the possibility of reform exists, the capacity of the system to reform itself would be administered by a broken system.

        Therefore even reform will end up broken and fail.

        There was a reason why Nero played the fiddle while Rome burned. I’m just out here handing out rosin .

          • bizarroland@fedia.io
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            17 days ago

            There is no fixing the human condition. Maybe when the computers become sentient they’ll not look too poorly on us.

            I think we could be rehabilitated we just can’t be in charge of the rehabilitation

    • reddit_sux@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      It did fix one issue. Just hear Blue Cross rolled back their decision to limit General Anaesthesia. That is one good turn.

      Perhaps some CEOs must be sacrificed from time to time for fixing all the issues. Not everyone at once, just enough to put some pressure on the companies.

    • yeahiknow3@lemmings.world
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      17 days ago

      Not quite. The reason we reject vigilantism is not that it is always unjust, but only usually. In this case, however, the outcome was in line with any reasonable objective standard of justice, as far as I can tell.

  • originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee
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    17 days ago

    This is a good question from the wrong angle. This event is cathartic for many people because the ultra rich who ruin countless lives never get punished. When they see “consequences” it’s a golden parachute. This event is frustrating because the media, legal, and security apparatuses expect us to treat this assassination as a grave act, but actively normalize the acts of harm Thompson and other leaders like him commit every day.

    This event is revealing in stark terms the divide between the elite and the average person. Should murderers be prosecuted? Sure - in a world where justice and the rule of law matter for everyone equally. Doesn’t feel like we live in that world.