Luigi Mangione murdered a health insurance executive Brian Thompson. The bullet casings said "deny", "defend" and "depose" on them, the tactic health insurance companies use to build their profits off denying coverage to humans who use health insurance for health care, to extend their lives and the quality of their lives.
There does have to be a limit, and enforcing the financial limits is going to bring profit to insurance companies, which is separate from limits. I feel that certain kind of places shouldn't be for profit, like schools, health insurance, prisons, and other things.
Thatcher led the movement of privativing things in England, and to some extent there were things the government was doing that they don't need to do, but privatizing actually makes government money go less further with the capitalists skimming money off the top. I think it's good not to have capitalists skimming money off the top of some things like schools, health insurance and prisons.
For me what this cartoon points out that both murders are wrong. Is killing a murderer OK in Buddhism? No, but there's no metaphysical punishment, only natural consequences, and perhaps a wrecked meditation practice. I couldn't murder someone because I'd be afraid to be caught, the impact on my mental state wouldn't be worth it.
I'm embarrassed to have feelings about the comeuppance. Is this the start of change or are they just going to take the photos of insurance company executives off the website, and go into hiding? Gated communities. I can feel positive feelings about people who are negatively cast, the health care executive is more than just a leader in the harm for profit community. Playing by society's seeming rules can be confusing when something bad happens.
The incoming president isn't afraid of using violence to get what he wants, the leadership of allowing violence for his purposes is a sloppy technique, it's not just going to happen for the causes he endorses. Last time he was president the harassment of vulnerable communities went up, most people see that as an undesirable consequence, but alas America was paying too much for eggs with inflation, so the story goes.
So much of what sitting in meditation is about is feeling all the weird and awkward feelings. Integration has limits. When I cranked up my meditation practice, I began to remember all the awkward anxiety dreams I get. Actually feeling the feelings, the more awkward emotions, is integrating.
It's not clear a lack of denial isn't masochistic, but it does feel stronger to be able to tolerate the headwinds of uncomfortable feelings. and see more of reality. It's not clear to me following politics and current events makes me more connected to the world, or if it's helpful to the spiritual life.
I would rather have a more sane world, with more clear lines of kindness, but here we are.
If I really wanted to challenge myself I could get one of those Trump as Buddha statues and shudder every day, with my feelings of cringe, fear and loathing. I'm not there yet. I feel proud that I'm challenging myself to grow, and I know it's a balance between self acceptance and compassion, and challenging myself.
A smart, well educated person who seems to have everything going for him choosing to murder someone, to have followed his own reason to conclude that murdering a healthcare executive was a righteous action, must make some worry, and some people will feel positive feelings about the action. Can you murder someone who was killing people, by denying coverage for profits, with their leadership?
For me harming others is the red line. I have harmed others in my life, not murder, but with my messy romantic life. I honestly think about it every day and vow to try and avoid that going forward in the future. The level of harm is different but the idea that you can't ignore other's hurt is a slippery slope, I don't want to cross. I think you must always take others impact into account of your actions, even if you see a different line of action that will help others more by doing a little harm. It's not quite easy to avoid harm in the world, living a life.
Even a vegan kills insects by not eating animals and their products. The point in Buddhism is that you're not trying to harm anyone, you can see harms. The way our society is, insecticides and transport vehicles will kill insects with our produce. You can't get past that. You can try by being local and growing your own produce. You can accidentally squish a bug, or kill an insect inside your home. I think even if you still do kill insects, the worry about that is good spiritual progress, even if you end up concluding you can try to rid you house of pests. You can see the othering even there.
I read an intense half glee, half wise knowing that the current tide of events will also shift and not solve everything, in an article by someone about what is going on in the middle east. Perhaps I'm idealistic and not realistic enough. I'd rather err on that side, against harming others, than the other side, where you're against having empathy, you have many systems that close off empathy towards oppressed people.
Amy Coney Barrett on the supreme court doesn't want to understand the harm systems do to people of transgender experience. She said, “One question I have is, at least as far as I can think of, we don’t have a history—that I know of—we don’t have a history of de jure discrimination against transgender people,” Coney Barrett said during oral arguments on Wednesday morning. “You point out in your brief that in the last three years there might have been these laws, but before that we might have had private societal discrimination.… Is there a history that I don’t know about where we have de jure discrimination?”
Is it really impossible to understand the persecution of transgender people? Do you really not see it? I've seen it, but then again I worked with the transgender population as a social worker and had to confront the brutal history and persecution. Maybe she doesn't have that knowledge, of course it's certainly OK to be unaware of it, perhaps she was asking to be educated. I read the question as a denial of that history, though. The limits of her ignorance is stated as a fact.
There is a kind of collective momentum in health insurance in the USA, in the USA foreign policy, in my own personal justification of killing flies inside my house. Just because there is a history doesn't mean we can't move more towards reducing harm, thinking about others. Increased empathy is the human evolution I'm looking for in myself and I hope we see in larger systems.
There are people on the Buddhists subreddit who argue you don't need to form the perfect opinion right away about this situation. There's a kind of compassion fatigue expressed. We can't be aware of everything, sometimes things don't affect us, maybe our opinion isn't even useful, nobody is asking us. I think developing one's political feelings and understanding what is going on in the world is an important part of humanity. Some people are very busy with other struggles, and decline the invitation. There's enough in front of them, there's no need to develop opinions about the middle east, or transgender. There's lots of not quite the way I would do it spread out all over the world, I can barely control myself. I need to guard the gates of my sense. I understand people not wanting to clutter their minds with details that are beyond their control.
Anyway, health care is screwed up in America, and socialized medicine would really cut out waste, and save a lot of money, and would be really good for business. It's a real no brainer, but American capitalists like holding the workers feet to the fire. Revolution is coming.
Links:
Luigi's review of Industrial Society and Its Future.
UnitedHeath vows to keep itself "sustainable."
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