Yeah, the rules of society say they won and they think all the losers beneath them just have to accept it. The social order and status quo are great for them. That something would violate it is extremely disturbing to them and provokes an emotional response.

I think that’s why they seem to be so clumsily overreacting to the murder. Maybe it’s working in segments of the population I don’t see, but everyone in my social network is either outright happy it happened or at least get why it happened. Some will have perfunctory “murder is wrong” statements, but the thrust is about what a corrupt and evil business health insurance is. That’s all the way up to the boomers and crosses political boundaries.

Things like the perp walk, excessive charges, and corporate comedy pretending everyone just thinks Mangione is a bad guy just highlights the us vs. them of class war rather than trying to somehow quell or redirect the bubbling unrest. I think they’re doing this because their peers and masters are emotionally demanding a visible and recognizable show of power and obedience. If they knew what was good for them they’d be triple-timing it to make some token effort to reform the system, but even a token effort in response to the killing of a rich person would infuriate them, so clumsy performances it is.