Spyke
fedia.io

When one of the first things you mention about him is "$280B of revenue" as though that's a good thing in the context of health insurance, yeah, fuck you.

237
sh.itjust.works

That much revenue isn't, by itself, the bad part. Revenue is just how much you take in from your sales. If they had minimal overhead and paid the majority of that out to claims, that would be fine (in the context of our existing healthcare system). The problem is the profit, how much of that $280B goes into the company's pockets instead of claim payouts.

49
Nougatreply
fedia.io

So why mention the revenue figure?

8
sh.itjust.works

Because they are trying to paint him as a productive member of society. Revenue is still the measure of how much business you do.

32
Nougatreply
fedia.io

Ah yes, I forgot that a person's value is measured only by how much revenue they produce.

8
sh.itjust.works

They didn't claim that though? They went on to talk about other factors too. The point of mentioning revenue was to portray him as "the American Dream", going from a small town to leading a major company.

Keep in mind I'm not defending the guy, but I don't see the point in being purposely obtuse

16
Nougatreply
fedia.io

How much revenue have you produced?

-4

Produced? Hard to say. Apples to apples would be managed/administrated, that's probably in the neighborhood of $5-10 million. Why?

6

He wanted to write that UHC saved X lives during his tenure, but he didn't want to write something probably wrong, so he went with this instead.

3
feddit.dk

They forgot to mention that his wife and he separated in 2018, keeping it secret for years. It was revealed after his death.

Not that I think there's anything bad about being separated/divorced, but it'd be a lie to paint him as a family man.

I guess his criminal record for drunk driving also doesn't fit the narrative.

196
granolabarreply
kbin.melroy.org

This example shows how media is your enemy...

They spin the facta for the owner class, every single time

And it works too. Well until this dead piece of shit... Something changed hopefully

71
lemmy.world

Your point is valid, but I wouldn't really place this guy in "the media." He's CFO of some investment firm. Just another C-suite executive trying to calm the rowdy peasants from atop his gilded throne, hoping to keep his head on his shoulders.

31

You are correct, that's a fair nuance to point out.

I guess shilling for the owner class ain't just a media job. They all do it esp if they think they are part of the club.

14
Jessicareply
discuss.tchncs.de

Someone else also pointed out there is exactly one photo being passed around of Brian Thompson. You would think they would find more family oriented photos to push the narrative

57
sh.itjust.works

Omg💀 That’s a great point

Meanwhile there’s at least one new ridiculously photogenic pic of luigi coming out every day

15
lemmy.world

They also made sure to mention that his kids go to public schools. And they've never missed a meal or any health care or been cold or hungry or anything. What difference?

21

Luigi went to elite private schools all his life bro...

DUHH, why are these peasants siding with the elite?!

11

That's an interesting date considering we learned about the drunk driving arrest in 2017 recently. Seems like she probably went through a tough time before she finally was able to get a separation.

10

Not that I think there’s anything bad about being separated/divorced, but it’d be a lie to paint him as a family man.

I'd urge you to reconsider this. Seperating from your partner does not invalidate you from being a 'family man' or a good parent. My parents divorced when I was a young age, and both of them remain committed to being attentive and involved parents (and grandparents).

5

Lucky her... she didn't have to suffer this man for 6 years AND she gets fucking Hella paid. I bet she is partying every fuckin day

3
lemmy.world

Oh! Oh! Do Hitler next! Talk about how he served his country in war, how he was a painter and a successful politician and then leave out the "other details" about him.

136
lemmy.world

Born to humble means. His father, a selfless civil servant. His mother, a simple homemaker. They were probably really proud when he was appointed Verbindungsmann of an Aufklärungskommando of the Reichswehr.

55
lemmy.world

Make this picture a post and I'll upvote it! (I don't want to steal and post it myself, but might if no one else does)

23

Stolen? You can't steal our memes comrades.

It's your turn to repost it beginning of January.

11

Now why can't they use this image every time they report on his death?

13
lemm.ee

I love how "overseeing $280B of revenue" is supposed to be some indicator of the guy's goodness. "Wealth = virtue" indeed.

93
lightnsfwreply
reddthat.com

Yeah that shit was top of the list not his everyman background or happy family. Shows where this asshole's priorities lie.

18
lemmy.world

not his everyman background or happy family

He's going through a divorce and his kids hated him. But this isn't unusual for the "everyman" who climbs over a hill of his neighbors' corpses to get that brass ring.

Once you've gone from pleb to president, you feel entitled to certain things that only a visit to Little Saint James can provide.

7

To be clear I don't actually believe that bit about his background. That's just how the other guy was spinning it.

1
lemmy.world

By the same logic, let me introduce you to the story of a young man rising from a failed Austrian artist to a national hero…

86

A vegetarian, jailed for his beliefs, and bullied mercilessly until he tragically took his own life.

15

This represents everything that should be right and good in America. Maybe some day. Maybe next life.

5
lemm.ee

Anyone who comes from humble beginnings should understand the struggle of the common man, and have empathy.

If you come from humble beginnings and then work your way up into a position of tremendous power, and then think "I've made my fortune now, so fuck the poors" then that's EVEN WORSE, not better!

77
lemmy.world

tl;dr: The beginnings justify the ends. If you're a teenager thinking about becoming a murderer or rapist later in life, consider learning the trombone.

72
reddit_suxreply
lemmy.world

I don't know but if you tried to learn to paint you could lead the country instead of a puny company.

2

Is this a bad time to say that I failed art class in grade school... Because that actually happened

2

WARNING ⚠️: Only applicable for those with 0 to 5 μg/mg epidermal melanin.

0

Fuck him even more then. Since he comes from humble beginnings he should know what it's like not being rich, but he just decided to be a greedy asshole.

61
lemmy.world

What do you expect from a CFO of mergers and acquisitions? They’re more inhuman than healthcare execs, if that’s possible, since their entire job is to buy companies and fire people, thus leaving them completely without insurance.

58
lemmy.ca

There's a reason Patrick Bateman worked in murders and executions mergers and acquisitions.

9

According to his business card Patrick Bateman worked in "Mergers and aquisitions."

4
lemmy.ca

world's most important companies

That's hilariously American defaultism considering most of the world doesn't need companies like UHC

55
lemmy.world

Mussolini interned at a bakery one summer and attempted to learn the harmonica, you judgemental monsters...

48
T00l_shedreply
lemmy.world

Hitler liked animals and hated smoking. Like mussolini, and this ceo,, that doesn't make them good

14
lemmy.world

And was vegetarian and a talented painter.

But that's not at all what he's known for is it?

All those things are moot when you are responsible for the suffering and deaths of others.

9
lemmy.world

It's a bizarre thing to detail the man's entire life EXCEPT the part that was evil as if it somehow is irrelevant.

46

"He grew up working class and then betrayed his roots. What a swell guy!"

22

I didn't have any sympathy for him until I found out he played basketball and the trombone.

This changes everything.

43
lemmy.world

When it's your job to profit off of human misery, don't be surprised when you find out what human misery feels like.

42
lemmy.world

I think if he had any personal friends who thought he was a good person the media would have made time for them to speak up about it. But only other rich executives have.

16

Reading this feels like I'm at the bar. Kinda agree with the sentiment though.

🍻 Cheers to you

1

Brian Thompson WAS living the American Dream! He got to kill THOUSANDS of Men Women and Children EVERY DAY and get paid MILLIONS for doing it!

41
lemmy.world

Hitler loved animals.

Your point?

The worst people in the world are still people. Doesn't mean we have to excuse their evil.

41

Ah yes, the American dream. Making billions by siphoning the blood-money from the dying you denies Healthcare to.

38
lemmy.world

I would have taken the job and tried to not be the leader in denied claims. Truth be told, I would probably funnel my excess income to single player supporting politicians.

2
AA5Breply
lemmy.world

There’s a lot of distance between an executive and those whose lives they impact. It’s probably too easy to forget there are people involved, and just pay attention to the numbers

1

nah. How exactly can that work with health care? The people are the numbers. They could easily translate a high number of approved claims to a high number of people being helped, but instead, they want a low number of claims being approved.

I disagree with the idea that money corrupts people. I think it's happening the other way around. The ability to accumulate great quantities of wealth favors people who have no scruples in the first place. It's why poor people are more charitable. It's not that they're closer to needy people. It's that having a charitable mentality means you will pass on opportunities to get easy wealth if it puts someone else at a disadvantage.

3
prolereply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

Unless you're a piece of shit, I imagine that would not last very long before you became disillusioned.

1

Probably, but I could always kick the lantern over on my way out. I'm already pretty disillusioned from how I was treated in school anyway.

1
lemmy.world

You could make a similar feel good post about basically any evil person in history. It's pretty easy when you ignore the evil things they do

37
dellishreply
lemmy.world

Is capitalism something different? These two things look the same to me.

2

So ambitious small town guy with no empathy or ethics moved up the chain until he profited off the pain and suffering of others. I'm sure many of these trash humans trying to praise him have never had to worry about how they were going to stay alive. You notice they are all just like him. Trash.

27

Yeah, this rural kid from Iowa grew up to be an evil parasite on society. This isn't the flex you think it is.

27
lemmy.blahaj.zone

Oh shit, he was elected Homecoming King?? Well that changes everything.

27
JackbyDevreply
programming.dev

He won a popularity contest at a dance when he was a teenager. This means he was a good person.

18
Nasanreply
sopuli.xyz

No mention of being prom king though, probably got corrupted by the homecoming crown and started changing.

1

I read a comment the other day that's stuck with me, I can't remember the precise wording but it was something like:

"Every cent spent on this man's funeral was made on the back of someone else's"

24

It makes the things UHC did to low income customers even worse, in my opinion. He knew what they were going through and still hurt them.

24
lemmy.world

Wow you're part of the problem. You boss doesn't pay you because he doesn't want you pay you "intelligent centrist", not because Ahmed down the block that can't speak English moved in.

Wow you dumb as shit.

1
lemmy.world

Wasn't there a reddit post about this guy and how he was like a womanizer or something and he and his wife have been separated for years, basically saying this guy wasn't the pillar of humanity the media was making him out to be? If there was a post, was any of that true?

23

He was working class but when given the opportunity to step on heads to get ahead he took it and fucked over the working class.

6

That's why I was saying before Mangione was identified that it wouldn't have shocked me if his wife put a hit out on him.

5
Anticorpreply
lemmy.world

I too was wondering what Commander Riker has to do with this.

4
BigAssFanreply
lemmy.world

Americans should generally vote for political parties that prevent immoral companies from excessive profits and damage to society and individuals. Too bad they have more hate for foreigners than love for themselves, believing that they could be wealthy and free too, one day.

4
Baguettereply
lemm.ee

Look, I get that half of our country might be stupid and facist, but some of us tried. We really did.

1

That's also the case here in Europe, sadly. Democracies are growing more fascist year by year.

1
BigAssFanreply
lemmy.world

Americans should go figure that our for themselves. By the way: same goes for other democracies around the world. You can make a moral appeal to people and companies, but that only solves a small part of the problem, best to regulate that with laws and legal consequences.

1

Perhaps this is all true and he was a relatively decent guy, but we will never know that for sure. What we do know for certain is that he was one many horrible cunts responsible for the harm and despair of far too many innocent people just trying to live normal, healthy lives. The nation is getting fucking tired of this bullshit and as a result the only part of this rich assholes legacy that really matters anymore is the one where he is a shitty proxy for all our anger and frustrations.

22

I don’t really think you can do that job and be responsible for the things he was responsible for… and still be a good person. I honestly believe those two things are wholly incompatible.

I feel the same way about anyone with far more resources than they could possibly need in a lifetime. You can’t possibly be in that position and be a good person. You just can’t. No matter how many good things you do with your money, having that much at all makes you a bad person, due to what it takes to amass in the first place.

So I won’t cry if more of them go down.

12
lemmy.world

One of the big lies that the elites tell themselves is that anyone and everyone of merit with be lifted to their rightful station in society. They need this illusion because otherwise, they'll have to face the fact that their success is just based on birth circumstances. They latched on the the few working class slobs that somehow navigate up the rungs of society.

But what exactly did Brian Thompson achieve with his success? Did he funnel his excess wealth back to the community he came from? No, he just accumulated wealth like all the rest.

Also, pretty sure he was cheating on his wife and doing insider trading, which checks out with the elites.

19
lemm.ee

If we really have a society where everyone is lifted to their rightful station... Then someone really needs to explain to me why anyone is homeless? Why any child goes hungry? Your average trailer park and 50 bucks in Food Stamps is still well below what the worst of us deserves.

3
lemmy.world

If you ask the elites, it is because "Because you're all lazy bas'!".

It's their prosperity gospel. They think that being poor is a sign that you've lived a sinful, wrongful life and their wealth is a sign that they've lived a righteous life. Why do you think whenever some poor person(or immigrate) commits a heinous crime, mainsteam media puts them on blast, but when a CEO does something that can be calculated to cause may times more harm, it's ignore or even praised?

What's worse? A single rape committed by a vagrant or a health insurance company denying 100 rape kits? What's going to get more coverage on the nightly news? I'm sure those news anchors believe that they're where they are purely though their individual merit.

4

That is the saddest fucking thing I have ever heard. I always thought it was like part of filling out a police report or something and the local government paid for it. I love my country but God damn, I fucking hate my country's government.

1

They should be free with every filed police report. It should just be a part of the regular police proceedings and come from their budget.

1

anyone and everyone of merit with be lifted to their rightful station in society.

I think that's part of the protestant work ethic. People are predestined to a level of holiness in the material world we live in, and their predestined level of holiness grants them the ability to produce a quality and quantity of work that achieves their said level of predestined holiness. Thus, the wealthier a person is, the more holy they were predestined to be (sounds like a loophole in predestination to me). If you look at religion from a sociological lens, then the protestant work ethic is a great leadership tool to encourage the workers to produce as much as possible for several reasons: it creates a belief in social mobility that is based on work, workers are teased with being more holy if they worker, workers are threatened with being less holy if they work less hard, and leaders and wealthy individuals are seen as being the more holy. This was a revolution in Christian values at the time of the Protestant Reformation because it made wealthy people more holy, which was in contradiction to Christian dogma at the time. Roman Catholics, who were dominant before the Protestant Reformation, valued only actions directly related to the church, and anything else was irrelevant. I'm not an expert on this, so I may be wrong, but I think part of predestination to Roman Catholics was applied at the creation of a person because by being human, they were already predestined by God to be a certain level of divine. In essence, what mattered in terms of holiness were works for the church. Labor was less motivated to produce goods for the sake of creating wealth. The impact was that Roman Catholicism was a better match for a feudalistic society in which works contributed to their lord and church. Whereas, Protestant Christianity was better suited for a market economy in which individuals were encouraged to produce for the sake of becoming wealthy (ie holy). Therefore, Protestant Christianity took hold well in the developing United States of America as had a synergistic relationship with the economic model, which we continually see portrayed in media as the American Dream and that wealthy individuals are morally just and given unlimited get out of jail free cards (unless they betray other wealthy individuals).

1
lemy.lol

Oh man.... I really want downvote this but like your point is right but like oh God fucking damn do we really need a post pointing out that the CEO asshole had a hobby? No duh.

He also had a job sentencing poor sick people to death.
We all know plenty about him from the boot being pushed into our throats from people like him and his friends who are all friends and think we'll of each other but...

Man the level of disconnect from these people. Completely can't understand the language of the oppressed and why we don't see their grand vision we are not a part of.

19
lemmy.world

It doesn't offend me if you downvote. Let me also point out he pleaded guilty to drunk driving in 2017, and became the CEO in the same month, so his regard for humans is pretty low.

46

LOL I just read that he didn't even live with his wife and his entire life of living the American Dream was a lie...

"They call it the American Dream cause you have to be asleep to believe in it"

Meritocracy can suck my ass.

Edit: oh shit that was your other post!

23

Seems like drawing this kind of attention to yourself when the masses are looking for the next person to bring to the guillotine is a weird choice.

18
granolabarreply
kbin.melroy.org

Media shilled whatever they could to make the working class develop sympathy for this lion of business administration

7

This is linkedin, it's ai generated.

Imagine what a fucking cuck you would have to be to actually post on LinkedIn.

2
lemm.ee

To try to make us feel guilty for cheering his demise.

"HE HAD A FAMILY!!111"

I don't care if his kid was Tiny Tim who's now spending every second of Christmas in debilitating agony, tears streaming down his face till his ducts run dry.

It doesn't change that because of this monster we call Brian Thompson, thousands of people who "had families" died from diseases that could have been cured with the simplest of anti-biotics, but saving money was just THAT important to this Butcher of the ill and broken.

4

So let me make sure I have this straight: Grew up in stereotypical small town Americana, undoubtedly observed the people around him struggling, had an opportunity to get lucky, learned nothing from his upbringing, and elected to deliberately contribute to making everyone else's problems worse now that he was no longer "little people."

We don't have a cannon anywhere on the planet capable of firing people like this far enough into space.

17

And Bin Laden made 20 children with 5 wives that were all loved.

17

Got rich trampling over as many people as possible then died by gun violence. A true blue american boy

16
lemmy.today

Gang you are missing the point. Thompson worked really hard from humble beginnings to become the absolute best at being a horrible human being. That’s gotta count for something, right? /s

16
lemm.ee

Robert Sterling CFO | M&A and Strategy Advisor

Mergers and Acquisitions… Another soulless capitalist whose only purpose is to:

  1. Perform leveraged hostile buyouts of solid companies with ‘struggling stock value’, gut them head to toe for any value, and leave the husk behind, or
  2. Join two corporations together whilst sneaking as much monopolistic structure past anti-trust regulations they can get away with
16

If he's not ai, he should be 2nd against the wall. I mean...it won't happen, but it would be nice.

2
lemm.ee

I have good memories of Brian Thompson. grabs a pipe for a good solemn smoke

Why I remember when he was there on a cross next to Jesus himself, comforting the poor messiah. He actually got into the business hoping that less people would die of crucifixion related injures. It's why he declined so many people, the money had to be there so that if they crucified Christ again his old friend would recover this time.

No I'm just fucking with you. Brian was a mass murderer and his passing is not mourned, not even by the billionaires. They don't give a shit about Thompson, they're just worried they could be next.

Also is that really his picture? I'm not one to judge people for their appearances, but I'm not sure they could find a douchier looking picture of him if they tried.

14
lemm.ee

He was innocent I tell you, he was just drinking a nice bottle of water to keep his hydration up. So it turned into wine at some point, why should we lock a man up for witnessing the miracles of our Lord and Savior....

....God I wish I believed in God....

6

Anyone can drink and drive, but it’s so “pedestrian”. You can only cut short like what, 50-60 lives. It takes a special talent to hurt or kill millions

6

I hope the media will speak about luigi mangiones parents and his love interest once he is punished by the law.

13

You know there's not even a whole letter's difference between CFO and CEO.

Just sayin'

12
Agent641reply
lemmy.world

This has always been one of my favourite gifs, but I've never known where it was from

3

inb4 by "his dad worked at a grain silo" he owned every grain silo in AmeriKKKa or something

9
lemmy.world

This country is broken. The powers at be ask us to view wealth as righteousness. Regular humans are expendable. We must protect those that have the most by grinding up those with the least.

And they're trying to export this sentiment to the rest of the world.

I'd say dark times are ahead but that statement ignores all this darkness we find ourselves writhing in.

9

Yeah. You can see it in the way that those "investing to get rich too" types talk about how what they are doing is right and that anyone could accomplish it if they were good as well as if the spare income to invest is not an issue worth considering because if they were moral they would have money and that they will soon be wealthy too because they are good.

All American religions are based on wealth. Even those who don't think themselves religious pray to it every day.

We are at the end of what we have known and not yet in the time tomorrow. Now is the time of Monsters.

4

He was immaculately concepted to a slave from a traditional farming planet whose athletic ability made him a star in the pod raising circuit. Despite such humble origins he was able to rise to become not only one of the few members of the venerable jedi order but distinguished himself with his valor in the clone wars. He even earned a seat on the jedi council. This man - not the person who dismembered him in cold blood - was everything that was right and good about the galaxy.......

9
lemmy.world

I virtually have the same background as this dipshit except that I didn't become a fucking awful ghoul. I'm not impressed.

5

I suggest checking out this dudes twitter posts. He is truly the worst of us - on par with the binned CEO. Fuck you Robert Sterling.

4

Chickens will roost. He should know that having come from Iowa.

3
lemmy.dbzer0.com

I'm not convinced we're much different except by circumstance. Anyone trying to manage that many human interactions is only going to see numbers. I know we'd like to think we have been or would be filtered out, but I'm not convinced.

The problem is corporate structures that create these behemoths that essentially can't have ethical liability. Someone else will do his job now. Killing him benefits exactly nobody. Just more distraction from what we should be focusing on.

3
PsychedSyreply
lemmy.dbzer0.com

Most of us don't choose who insures us - our company or personal finances do. There's no market here for people to walk away with their dollars. Anything even a little outside the system has been crushed.

6

Companies that don't provide benefits with uhc might have an easier time poaching employees from companies that do, after the higher denials has been highlighted so much.

1

I'd imagine most self-insured only use one company with a variety of plans, but I may be wholly ignorant on other corps.

1
lemmy.world

Anyone else think that dead chump looks a lot like Theodore Chipmunk?

2
lemmy.nz

I know that not at leftists are vegan (though they should be) but I don’t think saying he worked in meat processing is a good example to give to convince us of his supposed moral character

0
lemmy.world

Is there even a point of talking about a corpse? Ya'll are wasting a lot of energy.

-8