Two kindergarten students remain in extremely critical condition after a school shooting in Northern California last Wednesday. The incident barely made the headlines. In Connecticut, New York and Missouri, Blue Cross Blue Shield declared it no longer will pay for anesthesia for the full length of some surgeries if the procedure exceeds a certain time. You probably didn’t read about that, either.
Instead, proving once again the industry is grossly out of touch with the consumer, mainstream media is trying its damnedest to taffy-pull a headline concerning the murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, who was the victim of an apparent targeted-killing in New York City last week. A prominent banner across the top of CNN’s website read: “Huge Manhunt Underway.”
J. Basil Dannebohm
However, the intrigue and outrage necessary to maintain a story in this age of 24-hour news just wasn’t there. I decided to stream local NYC affiliates in the hours after news of Thompson’s untimely demise. I figured since the “big three” — CNN, Fox News and MSNBC — were all hyped-up, surely the local news was having a field day in their quest for an Emmy or a Pulitzer.
Crickets.
For New York City media, the main headline that day was the annual Christmas Tree lighting ceremony slated to take place later that evening at 30 Rockefeller Center. (So much for that “War on Christmas” narrative, eh?) The only “massive manhunt” most New Yorkers were engaged in was trying to spot Coco Jones around town ahead of her performance under the iconic tree. There was little indication that anybody in the Big Apple was keeping their eyes open for an assassin.
The court of public opinion, officially known as social media, was catty at best. One viral post read, “Thoughts and prayers require prior approval.” Others were more brutal. It seemed the only people who were shocked and outraged about the incident were the bereaved family members of the fallen CEO billionaire. UnitedHealthcare issued a milquetoast statement about the shooting; but in their world, everyone is expendable and replaceable.
There are really two stories here: The first is that mainstream media has significantly lost its credibility, devolving largely into an outlet for gaslighting. Were this not the case, they would have covered the other story: Americans are fed up with corporate corruption and greed. However, the same elite ruling class that controls the health insurance industry also controls most corporate media. Hence, journalists find themselves intellectually castrated when it comes to reporting the news from a “fair and balanced” perspective.
In 2017, the poverty-fighting organization Oxfam came out with a report stating only eight individuals controlled half the world’s wealth. Seven years later, not much has changed: The rich are getting wealthier, the poor are becoming more destitute, and the middle class is becoming scarce.
Eight billionaires hold the equivalent of the wealth of 3.6 billion people. Today, roughly a dozen ruling elites own everything you consume: food, travel, insurance, media, the list goes on and on. Billionaires Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson have such ridiculously excessive amounts of wealth that the trio is engaged in a “space race.” Bezos, who owns the Washington Post, makes an average of $3,715 per second. That’s $205 million per day. In fact, he is so rich it would take him 356 years to exhaust his wealth at a rate of $1 million per day.
“There isn’t a single state in the nation where a 40-hour minimum wage work week is enough to afford a two-bedroom apartment.”
Once upon a time in the “United” States, a single person working 40 hours per week could support an entire family with a house, new car, vacations and time to enjoy life. Today there isn’t a single state in the nation where a 40-hour minimum wage work week is enough to afford a two-bedroom apartment.
People are tired of it, but don’t expect things to change anytime soon.
You might be thinking: “Americans elected Donald Trump and he’s appointing his billionaire friends to cabinet positions.” True, but it’s not as though such a move is revolutionary. In fact, that’s been the norm in D.C. for decades. Most incoming presidents build tool sheds, not cabinets. This might come as a shock to many, though, given that most Americans receive their news from biased mainstream media.
In most cases, Americans would be saddened and ill at ease by news that a sniper was on the loose in New York City, especially during the holidays. But as a line in the blockbuster movie of the season points out, “No one mourns the wicked.”
I personally feel sorry for Thompson’s family, but I doubt the bereaved are receiving many casseroles from sympathetic neighbors. Perhaps that’s the price you pay when you sell your soul.
Unfortunately, the ruling class isn’t going to change much in light of this tragic incident. Granted, they might increase their security detail; I fear, however, that as the wealth gap expands, we will see more of this type of behavior from people who feel they have nothing left and no place to turn.
J. Basil Dannebohm is a writer, speaker, consultant, former legislator and intelligencer. His website is www.dannebohm.com. He writes from the Washington, D.C., metro in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
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