Terrible news, everyone. The assassin who killed United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, often referred to as "The Claims Adjuster," appears to have been caught. According to initial reports, it seems someone ratted him out at a McDonald's. Whoever had the nerve to snitch on someone who gunned down a CEO in broad daylight less than a week ago—just to cash in on the pitiful $10,000 reward—must be pretty strapped for cash. Anyway, here are my thoughts on the situation as a whole. Obviously, this isn’t actually going to change anything. I don’t think it will spark a wave of copycat killers or anything like that, and it certainly won’t improve the lives of people in the U.S. There’s plenty of discourse about this already, but what I find more interesting is the reaction to the whole situation. Watching the support from both the left and the right has been fascinating. It’s remarkable how, at times, people can collectively identify an enemy. We can look at healthcare companies and unanimously declare, "These people are evil and entirely motivated by profit." Yet, a real estate CEO who blames every issue in the country on minorities and immigrants can still win the presidency. Someone on the TrueAnon subreddit made an insightful observation: the problem with America is that we’ll applaud the assassination of a healthcare CEO, but the same people will lose their minds over protesters blocking traffic during a demonstration against genocide. “Sure, genocide is bad, but I’ve got to get to work.” This reveals a significant truth: Americans are incredibly self-interested. The idea that their lives might be inconvenienced by a genocide happening overseas is outrageous and absurd to them. They love the idea of protests, resistance, and even assassinations—until it affects their lives in any way. That said, I believe it’s possible to appeal to their humanity. I really do think that if most liberals were seeing the genocide in Palestine every day like I am, they would oppose it. Unfortunately, their minds are so saturated with MSNBC’s “lesser of two evils” rhetoric that they can’t see the situation for what it is. So, the next time Democrats try to convince you that universal healthcare is too “radical” or “communist,” remind them that the entire country celebrated the death of a healthcare CEO.
This being my first entry onto this site seems appropriate, considering what took place in Syria yesterday. I'm sure you have seen countless people take a position similar to mine elsewhere on the internet. Nevertheless, I will lay out my thoughts here. Let’s first establish this: Assad is terrible. Anyone arguing otherwise is probably not acting in good faith. That being said, I will not celebrate his ousting. I believe that Assad losing control of Syria will be bad for both the Syrian people and the region at large. The rebels, who have been portrayed as brave freedom-fighting revolutionaries by the West, are former ISIS/Al Qaeda members who were beheading people just a few short years ago. I’ll be the first to tell you that people can change. When someone genuinely changes for the better, it’s important that we recognize that change. That being said, that is ABSOLUTELY not what happened here. Al-Julani went from ISIS -> Al Qaeda -> Liberal sweetheart, revolutionary, CNN interview guy. That is NOT organic. And even if it was, that is NOT the guy you want leading your country. I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my life, so many that I think it’s fair to say I should be disqualified from holding any positions of power—and I haven’t joined ANY terrorist organizations. This guy’s Wikipedia page looks like an MLB trade log. He’s played for every team, and he just won his first ring, but he had to sell his soul to the Dodgers (The West) to get it. There are countless people in Syria celebrating this. It’s hard to put the blame on them. They’ve endured so much hardship during Assad's reign that they imagine nothing could be worse. Unfortunately, I believe them to be wrong. There are similar sentiments throughout the region in Palestine and Lebanon. This change in leadership spells bad news for them as well. Hezbollah’s supply line through Syria will be cut off. I fear Hezbollah will be woefully unequipped next time Israel comes knocking. Speaking of that, do you know who is incredibly happy with the events that have taken place over the last few weeks? Israel. They wasted no time grabbing land from Syria with zero response from the rebels. Their idea of a "Greater Israel" has just become a lot more accessible. To me, it is clear that having a flaky, untrustworthy, self-interested ally is preferable to a group that will happily hand over more land and resources to your greatest enemies. But it appears that is not the case with everyone. Western liberals celebrate the toppling of the Assad regime and patiently await the installment of the whitest Arab the U.S. State Department can dig up. They can’t wait to turn their TVs off and live in blissful ignorance again. As for the MENA people who celebrate the fall of the Assad regime, it’s not my place to tell them how they should feel about this. They have suffered under Assad firsthand. What is my responsibility, and the responsibility of the international Marxist community, is to turn the anti-dictatorship, anti-U.S., anti-Israel sentiment that exists in the Middle East into anti-capitalist sentiment. Right now, many of the oppressed people there dream of flourishing liberal democracies. Liberalism will bleed these countries dry. Only a strong socialist state that secures the resources of the region for the people will ease their pain permanently.