I don't want to put too much preamble on this post, just try not to get bogged down or draw implications of my own views on the first section.
The Hollywood Version
The man turned up on time to meet his investors, just as the hooded figure had expected. The man had taken many lives, not by killing them but denying them help, all the while charging them for his help. He was rich beyond the reach of that of mere mortals and took away that which they earnt, if that wasn't enough the police were looking into his affairs for insider trading. That isn't to say he hadn't helped at all but only as long as it didn't effect his profit margins.
He hadn't helped enough. Or at least that's what the hooded figure thought, he hadn't helped when it had mattered to it.
The hooded figure drew it's pistol, it was a silenced semiautomatic. He aimed at the man as he crossed to the building his investors were in, and pulled the trigger. The gun coughed and a subsonic bullet reached out the gun and smote the man.
A casing fell, onto it was inked the word 'deny'.
The gun didn't reload, the gasses from a subsonic round wasn't enough to kick the slide back. But the figure had been expecting that. He racked back the side swiftly with practiced movements,
Two more shell cases soon followed:
'Defend'
'Depose'
The figure had walked to the scene but ran down a nearby alley breaking line of sight to any witnesses. He left the ally and climbed on a nearby E-bike, the machine's motor augmenting its every push on the pedals. It rode through the nearby park as fast as it could. The police couldn't follow even if they had been quick enough, or it unlucky enough to have been spotted as it went down. They could have run of course but they wouldn't dare drive one of their car's leviathan like through the park, risking the lives of those walking there.
The figure cut between the people, an untouchable avenger of blood.
The figure was exactly satisfied but the deed was done. He was a hero, none would admit it but he was. The public didn't exactly support him but no one would shed a tear over him other than his family, boated with blood money. No one out right supported him online but swiftly the social media sites filled with posts of karmic justice. The news was full of the events as the man had been rich, none of his victims had ever received that. But then again none had been laughed at by anyone save the man who had robbed them blind, now everyone was laughing at him. The company had run hadn't even cared about him, not really. They had deleted his profile from their website within hours of his death.
Perhaps the world would change. The people now realized how little they had cared for the man, and how much their fellow man had cared. In some ways it didn't matter to the hooded figure, in others it mean everything. But regardless of the outcome, the question had been asked, the answer would follow.
The reality
If you hadn't already guessed I'm talking about the murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthCare, the largest health insurer in America, itself a subsidiary of UnitedHealth group who owns a network of medical facilities. He was gunned down on his way to meet with investors in a hotel by a gunman wielding a suppressed pistol firing subsonic ammunition.
Thompson had been receiving threats but that doesn't necessarily link it to the murder, he likely had made many enemies. Some have asked if Thompson was even the real target but only a symbol for the health insurance industry. The words on the bullet casings are interesting but ultimately not relevant for here as the exact meaning of them is slightly vague but I think we all got the gist.
Morality when it comes to the health insurance industry is murky but Thompson did have a few trading allegations against him but he was no monster by the standards of the industry. The BBC has an article on him, and if you are curious about him and his dealings I recommend reading it. The wikipedia article is curious, he doesn't appear to be one of inherited wealth, his father was a grain elevator worker.
I'm at risk of hypocrisy here as like other people have suggested his killing was a symbol but I'm going to talk about him in a larger context and thus reducing him to a symbol myself.
Cruel Irony
I think we all remember the Trump shooting a few months back and the media response it got. The social media response though was very different, specifically on reddit but likely elsewhere to.
After the school shooting in Iowa Trump was infamously said “It’s just horrible, so surprising to see it here. But have to get over it, we have to move forward,” and Reddit turned this back on him. After the shooting redditors said 'just get over it' and they certainly did, within about 24 hours the first assassination of a presidential candidate in my lifetime (that I know of at least) was buried. After that simply no one discussed it until the conspiracy theories started swirling and even then there were only counter theories and mockery of those who peddled anti-left conspiracies.
Why do I mention it as Trump survived And Thompson did not? I remember a mythbusters episode, it was a behind the scenes episode and they made a compilation of Adam Savage getting hurt or usually hurting himself given his proclivity for acting first thinking second. Whilst everyone found it funny, including him, he said something that stuck with me for some reason. When he was hurt everyone in every clip always broke down laughing and noticing this he remarked something to the effect of:
It's actually kind of shocking the lack of concern.
Brian Thompson has had an echoed response of that to Trump; you have done wrong and you have suffered in response, karma's a female dog.
Tedious Christianity
I'm always reminded of daredevil when it comes to violence and Christianity; daredevil is portrayed as a devout catholic and the orphaned son of a boxer. He was blinded but acquired a heightened sense of hearing so great that it negates his loss of sight.
He is driven by a need for justice and thus became a lawyer.
His sense of hearing however drove him from the path of peace (though there were other causes to). I don't know the original comic book version but in the tv series although it is not show on screen he talks about the first time he put on the costume.
Having an extreme sense of hearing, he alone could hear a father abusing his daughter every night. The problem was by definition he couldn't prove it, after all unnaturally acute hearing isn't admissible in court. So one night he went out in black clothes, entered the families house and beat the father senseless and told the father, if he ever laid a hand on the daughter again he would come back. Daredevil said it was the first good nights sleep in weeks.
The Daredevil response is very human but we should note two very important bible verses:
What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Daredevil was right in one way, it is wrong to let a crime or sin continued unchallenged but we aren't called to violence but to goodness. The Matthew parallel to the Luke quotation is a little more open ended and could be used to justify striking at those who commit sins against the ones who commit worse sins that you but Luke captures a different essence and I suspect the true essence is of Luke. There is a fine line between preventing a crime and becoming a vigilante and daredevil crosses that line. He in harming criminals has judged them.
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But how does this apply to use as viewer of the news?
Of all bible verse, however two need viewing:
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice,
or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them.
One might say that God judged Thompson but even with the blessings we have it would be a dangerous thing to claim as although 1 Corinthians says we have the mind of Christ but 'The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure...' so it's dangerous.
The book of proverbs is perhaps the less authoritative of the biblical canon but the advice here is wise, taking satisfaction in the misfortune of others is unbecoming of anyone is most situations but it unbecoming in all situations for a Christian.
We may or may not approve of the American health system but how we react to the news in person, on social media, and perhaps even more importantly in our hearts.
True Christian behaviour is boring to view from the outside; there are no battles, no epic fights, no crusades, or any such. There is only trying to be good people and bringing the darkness into the light. There is always the battle to keep people safe, be it safeguarding or reporting crimes, sometimes it could even be as dangerous as staring a criminal in eye when they desire to do wrong but it's usually the many hundred little decisions we make that reveal us to be Christians.
Social Media and christianity
James 3 makes of great importance the control of the tongue: The tongue and in the modern era, the keyboard is the rudder of the body. The words we use guide our actions as they shape the situations we are in, for example; if you insult someone you might end in a brawl, if you speak calmly you might bring peace to violence. Likewise the words we use shape how people see us, especially in a text based format. If we are uncaring and cruel in our words we use, we appear cruel and uncaring.
As Christians we are meant to care so our response to the killing of Brian Thompson is vital, not in its effect but in how we make ourselves. For with our words we remake ourselves.
'but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.', the heart is deceitful above all things and we shape both how we will act in the future. The heart deceives, the tongue and the keyboard then guides our actions, and then our acts come back unto us engraving themselves into us, driving us to be more like what we have been. How we speak in text or in voice shapes us, and sometimes what we don't say; This is a battle for our hearts, minds, and futures.
Source for image of the shooter was the BBC who in turn got it from reuters
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