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The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson must be loudly condemned

Following the fatal shooting of Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, the internet was full of commentary. Zeynep Tufekci, in an opinion piece in The New York Times on December 6, 2024, entitled “The Rage and Glee That Followed a C.E.O.’s Killing Should Ring All Alarms,” writes that “I’ve been studying social media for a long time, and I can’t think of any other incident when a murder in this country has been so openly celebrated.” Tufekci is a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University.

Initially, Tufekci reports, minutes after the news broke and before any details were available, the internet was full of speculation that the company had refused insurance coverage for the killer. It subsequently was reported that bullet casings bearing the words “delay,” deny,” and “depose” were found at the scene, suggesting a critique of insurance companies for delaying and denying claims and the need to depose persons from high positions. When the bullet ca…