top of page

CEO Murder Becomes Third Confirmation of Extremism Prediction

Writer's picture: Bruce GoldfadenBruce Goldfaden

Updated: Dec 19, 2024

October 2023 survey eerily predicted wave of extremist violence


By Bruce Goldfaden, Decency Action Network



The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, was the third confirmation in five months that an October 2023 public opinion survey was eerily accurate. The survey, by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), determined that 23%, or nearly 61 million American adults, believe extremism is the correct action by agreeing with the statement: “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.” [1]  The other two extremist acts were the attempted assassinations of President Trump in July and September.

 

Thompson’s December 4 execution, charged in the state of New York as murder as an act of terrorism and as a US federal murder count that could result in the death penalty, is a stark example of extremism targeted against the medical insurance industry. The hatred that allegedly motivated the radical behavior is revealed in the accused murderer’s manifesto: “Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming,” [2] a reference to those he blamed for the industry’s perceived abuses.

 

These three extremist acts, whose emotionally volatility is captured in the October 2023 survey, is further evidence of what I’ve characterized as Indecency USA, the omnipresent negative energy attempting to strip us permanently of the essential moral and ethical principles of compassion, goodwill, and kindness. The seeds of Indecency USA were planted in 2000 with the dotcom crash and blossomed throughout the following 25 years as financial, political, and social turmoil ripped through the country.

 

Instead of coming together to solve our pain, we’ve disintegrated into opposing points of view with violence as the arbiter of too many disagreements, as evidenced by the spiraling body and incident count. In Indecency USA, we have the highest murder rate among advanced democracies, exceeding Japan’s with the lowest, by 2,861% [3]. If that weren’t bad enough, from 2014 to 2023, violent victimization increased 12%; rape/sexual assault soared 55%; aggravated assault climbed 10%; and violent crime excluding simple assault rose 13%. [4]

 

Even more disturbing, the idea of extremist violence has infiltrated to some of the youngest people in our country. Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, has produced two of the accused in the last three targeted cases. The accused in the Thompson murder is 26. The would-be assassin in July was 20. [The would-be assassin in September was 58 at the time of the incident.]

 

Gen Z—also known as digital natives [5], the first generation to grow up mostly online—has had access to some of the most toxic content available whose effect is unquantifiable. And just as troubling, they’ve seen media violence that pours into homes 24/7. “An average American youth will witness 200,000 violent acts on television before age 18. Weapons appear on prime-time television an average of nine times each hour. The violence depicted in television content is often considerable…” [6] And, this information doesn’t include violent video games, described as “murder simulators” by two experts. [7] Innumerable experts have issued statements about the negative effects on behavior from media violence.

 

In the richest country in human history, we’ve become addicted to violence, based on media consumption habits, including video games, and the crime statistics cited here. And, there’s soaring public school violence of 1.3 million crimes that no one in authority is talking about [8].


Do we enjoy living in Indecency USA? Apparently, we do, because nothing is changing. As a matter of fact, our quality of life is getting worse. The big picture is flooded with the blood of victims whose families have been shattered forever because we cannot figure out the puzzle of our inability to get along. Does anyone have effective answers?

 

Here's what I think. The issue is our hatred: simmering and boiling like a pot of water, endlessly refilled from an inexhaustible reservoir of hate, boiling on and on instead of ever running dry. We’d rather let our hatred boil and cause violence than cool down and let live. We cannot stand the thought that someone may have gotten the better of us or is better off than us. Better to even the score with violence.

 

In Indecency USA, the omnipresent negative energy—attempting to strip us permanently of compassion, goodwill, and kindness—continues to wreak havoc with extremism. What will happen next?

 

Editor's note: An Emerson College poll released December 17 determined that '41% of voters aged 18-29 find the killer’s actions [the murder of CEO Brian Thompson] acceptable (24% somewhat acceptable and 17% completely acceptable).' [9] All of these voters, except those who are 28 and 29, are Gen Z, the same generation as two of the three accused of extremist violence tied to the PRRI survey, and the generation immersed in violent media, video games, and toxic online content.


References

[1] Public Religion Research Institute. “2023 American Values Survey Presentation.” October 25, 2023. Accessed August 22, 2024. https://www.prri.org/research/threats-to-american-democracy-ahead-of-an-unprecedented-presidential-election/

[2] Klippenstein, Ken. Exclusive: Luigi's Manifesto. https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/luigis-manifesto. Accessed December 16, 2024.

[3] Statista. “Homicide Rate in G7 Countries in 2022.” Statista. Accessed October 19, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1374211/g7-country-homicide-rate/.

[4] Bureau of Justice Statistics. “Year-to-Year Comparison by Crime Type.” National Crime Victimization Survey. Accessed October 19, 2024. https://ncvs.bjs.ojp.gov/year-to-year-comparison/crimeType.

[5] Wikipedia Contributors. Digital Native. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_native. Accessed December 16, 2024. Last modified December 15, 2024.

[6] American Academy of Family Physicians. Violence in the Media and Entertainment (Position Paper). Originally published 2004. Reviewed January 2022. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.aafp.org/about/policies/all/violence-media-entertainment.html#:~:text=An%20average%20American%20youth%20will,on%20television%20before%20age%2018.&text=Weapons%20appear%20on%20prime%2Dtime,of%20nine%20times%20each%20hour.

[7] Grossman, Dave, and Gloria DeGaetano. Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie & Video Game Violence. Paperback edition. New York: Harmony, 2014.

[8] National Center for Education Statistics. Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools: Findings From the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2021–22. NCES 2024-043, 2024. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2024/2024043.pdf.

[9] Emerson College Polling. "December 2024 National Poll: Young Voters Diverge from Majority on Crypto, TikTok, and CEO Assassination." https://emersoncollegepolling.com/december-2024-national-poll-young-voters-diverge-from-majority-on-crypto-tiktok-and-ceo-assassination/. Accessed December 19, 2024.

 

Bruce Goldfaden is the founder of the Decency Action Network whose mission strengthens America’s core principles of compassion, goodwill, and kindness, which have sustained our prosperous way of life. He is the author of The Man of Many Colors, a parable about recognizing one's individual value to recognize this value in others to live by the Golden Rule, the appropriate code of conduct. The Man of Many Colors is available on amazon.com.

 

Copyright © 2024 Bruce Goldfaden and Decency Action Network. All rights reserved. No part of this essay may be reproduced or redistributed in any form or by any means—except through sharing via a link to this web page or for brief quotations in a review—without the express written permission of Bruce Goldfaden and Decency Action Network.



26 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Commentaires


privacy    |    terms of use

Copyright © 2024 decency action network. All rights reserved.

bottom of page