“Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare since 2021, was shot and killed outside an entrance to the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan, New York City, on December 4, 2024. He was in the city to attend an annual investors meeting for UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare. Authorities believe the attack was not random. Thompson had been criticized for UnitedHealthcare’s rejection of insurance claims, and his family reported that he had received death threats in the past. The shooting occurred early in the morning, and the suspect, initially described as a white man wearing a mask, fled the scene.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Brian_Thompson
(edit) I would like to point out that Luigi Mangione is only a suspect and there are currently doubts about the integrity of the evidence.
People like Brian Thompson enjoy(ed) a life of care free luxury and comfort because people have been abiding by societal norms…the social contract. Eventually, those care free days are going to be a distant memory and “corpos” are going to need armed security 24/7 like every cyberpunk novel ever has predicted.
There is one truth about Americans. You do not want them to agree that you are the baddie they should focus on.
You reminded me of something by mentioning cyberpunk: if this case does not lead to an actual mass movement, it will probably accelerate in the opposite direction, of unlimited capitalist liberalism in which every CEO is a demigod with a private army for his personal defense. Which, as you well said, is narrated in every cyberpunk story but which is a symptom of its realization.
In case anyone is curious like I was, the original artist of this portrait of Mike Pondsmith - creator of the Cyberpunk TTRPG - is Lauren Tamaki, it was originally for The Atlantic article “The Role-Playing Game That Predicted The Future” written by Darryn King from December 2020, her other portraits are available here: http://laurentamaki.com/portrait-gallery