It's dangerous to ignore those who see 'joy' in UnitedHealthcare CEO's murder | Opinion
Taylor Lorenz gave voice to the powerless feeling that many Americans share about our nation's health care system. It's a mistake to ignore it.
We’ve got a choice to make: Cancel Taylor Lorenz or pay attention to what she said about the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
“I felt, along with so many other Americans, joy, unfortunately,” Lorenz, a tech reporter, said Monday on “Piers Morgan Uncensored.”
She started to explain herself when Morgan, a conservative, cut her off.
“Joy?” he asked. “Joy in a man’s execution?”
Why is Luigi Mangione a folk hero to many?
It was a tense, awkward moment that has gone viral, putting us all in danger of ending up right back where we started.
We’ve got to learn to listen to one another’s words, no matter how detestable we find them; otherwise, we’ll be dealing with the consequences of the actions of people who feel powerless and hopeless.
Before I explain further, let me make a few things very clear:
- I didn’t feel any joy whatsoever in Thompson’s death. Regardless of what’s going on in his industry, I don’t believe in vigilante justice or returning evil for evil. If we start down that road, the logical conclusion ends with rampant violence and a dystopian, unlivable society.
- Luigi Mangione should not be a folk hero after being accused in Thompson’s death. But he is.
- So now we have to deal with why.
Brian Thompson's murder is detestable. But we can't ignore the public's reaction.
Lorenz gave voice to a sentiment plenty of people are feeling, if social media posts, likes and shares hold any weight.
Or, at least, she started to before Morgan cut her off.
People feel powerless and hopeless in front of the U.S. health care system. They believe that the costs are too high, and that the care is inadequate.
They don’t believe they have any ability to change it in their lifetimes. And they feel trapped because they can’t escape the system, flawed as it is.
For them, Mangione has become something of a Robin Hood figure as he’s accused in a cold-blooded killing that looks like he struck out at the rich on behalf of the poor.
There have been attempts at health insurance reform, but nothing has made enough of a difference for enough of the population, and their attitude is “serves him right.”
When folks say they feel powerless, we must listen
I don’t share that opinion. But I don’t need to share that viewpoint, or any other, to understand it or where it’s coming from.
I believe in listening to people – even and perhaps, especially, when I disagree with them.
We’ve got plenty of examples of what happens when everyday people are ignored by those in power, and Morgan certainly qualifies as host of an influential and widely circulated discussion show.
He should have given Lorenz more time to explain herself before such an aggressive response.
Black people were ignored when football players kneeled during the nation anthem, and it turned into countless race riots after the police killing of George Floyd and others.
Conservatives were ignored when they said the country was ripping apart at the seams over immigration and shifting cultural values, and they stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Victims of mass shootings have been ignored, and now elementary schools conduct active shooter drills the way Cold War-era kids learned to “duck and cover.”
Cancel Taylor Lorenz? Or tackle the problem?
Ignoring problems doesn’t make them go away. It makes them worse.
And if people had listened, perhaps Thompson would still be alive today and his family wouldn’t be mourning.
Lorenz was brave to speak her mind, even if she unwittingly repeated Malcolm X’s “chickens coming home to roost” line in the wake of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
However, what if the nation had listened to him? Malcolm X was canceled, and he went into exile. Just a few years later, there were more assassinations, including his own in 1965, and spasms of riots and deaths around the nation.
We don’t have to agree with what Lorenz said to try to understand why she said it, especially when we have evidence that she’s not alone.
If we don’t want to embolden more would-be killers, looking to become heroes online, we should learn to listen and address the concerns of the powerless.
Sooner or later, we’ve got to learn the lesson that we can’t keep ignoring problems and expecting them to go away; otherwise, we’ll just lurch from one violent tragedy to the next.
We’ve got a choice to make.
Greg Moore is a columnist at the Arizona Republic, where this column originally appeared. Reach Moore at gmoore@azcentral.com, or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @SayingMoore