Crime Scene Unit police work at the scene where CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson, 50, was shot … [+]
On Wednesday, Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare was gunned down in Manhattan. Police believe this Thompson was assassinated, something supported by the discovery bullet cases from the CEO shooter, with “deny,” “defend” and “depose” written on them.
Amidst this case of murder, the internet reaction has been broadly morbid, with many expressing glee, cracking jokes, and making memes about the event.
But why? What is it about the online world that encourages these sort of dark reactions? And what about the CEO shooter story has attracted so much morbidity?
To begin, let’s look at how people online have interacted with this story.
The Internet’s Reaction To The CEO Shooter
Following the murder of Brian Thompson, the online world has been vocal in its support for the CEO shooter, a suspect who’s currently at large.
The core reason for this reaction, according to many internet posters, is as a direct reaction to practices made by the healthcare industry. In other words, some individuals view this as justice.
This view of the murder as “just,” appears regularly online. For example, this post about the shooting focuses on the balance between people being denied healthcare coverage and Brian Thompson’s death:
While this tweet draws similar parallels:
Alongside these justification-style posts, there’s also admiration for the actions of the CEO shooter. This tweet showing a glimpse of the gunman’s face has over 13 million views at the time of writing, and close to a quarter of a million likes:
This small selection of posts have been seen by tens of millions of people, and reflect the reaction of the online world, where many are celebrating and mocking Thompson’s murder, while thirsting over the gunman.
What Does The Reaction To The CEO Shooter Mean?
This piece isn’t looking at the ethics of this case or passing judgement, instead it’s trying to comprehend what about the internet enables this sort of reaction.
To begin with, there’s a sense of righteousness many people appear to feel about this news. This thread, for example, outlines a series of reported controversies UnitedHealthcare was involved in.
Many online believe the healthcare system in the United States to be broken and prioritizing profit over people. This is a core driver in the gleeful reaction to Brian Thompson’s murder, and the ensuing memes.
Alongside this feeling of justness that many are expressing, what enables this dark reaction to the CEO shooter story is the scale and facelessness of the internet.
Because the former UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is just a name and picture on a screen, there’s no personal connection. To many, he’s simply a character in the CEO shooter story, rather than a fully formed individual.
Alongside this, the size of social media and the proliferation of people makes it easy for stories to spread and be embellished. For example, many now position the CEO shooter as a Robin Hood style figure, someone who fights against an injustice and is a borderline superhero:
These two factors of facelessness and embellishment make it possible for people online to crack dark jokes, as they feel not only validated by the similar posts floating around, but receive positive feedback by engagement.
Ultimately, one of social media’s defining characteristics is as an echo chamber. When a certain tone of post gets popular, it enables and encourages others to act in a similar way, normalizing that behaviour, no matter its morbidity. And no matter what your views are on the CEO shooter story, it serves as a prime example of how the internet engages with macabre news.