If our grievance with the health”care” industry is its callous lack of respect for human life, shouldn’t we be more empathetic towards Brian Thompson?

Yes, he is a figurehead in an industry that murders thousands, if not millions, per annum. But the world will get much darker if we start going eye for eye with each other.

The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid

And the marshals and cops get the same

But the poor white man’s used in the hands of them all like a tool

He’s taught in his school

From the start by the rule

That the laws are with him

To protect his white skin

To keep up his hate

So he never thinks straight ‘

Bout the shape that he’s in

But it ain’t him to blame

He’s only a pawn in their game

At the same time, the public sentiment should call us to all do some deep shadow work. The bloodlusty glee is a misdirected barbaric yawp against a system that long ago voided its bowels of any semblance of humanity.

The oligarchs need to take note. Yes, they should be afraid. But I hope it’s more than that. I hope that their discomfort is more than existential fear. My hope is they receive a flash of empathy, a sliver of understanding of the misery they perpetuate for millions of people. I hope the initial fear for their own safety triggers a sympathetic grokking of the incessant tinnitus squeal of fear and loathing that blots the cosmic background radiation of our inner light.

American exceptionalism is as farsical as the American dream. This is not the greatest country in the world and to insist so while waiving a flag is to willfully look through a veil darkly. The gold-leaf is wearing thin.

Perhaps this catharsis will help the humans at the top take control over the heartless machine they have wrought.