AOC’s Justifications of Violence
Experiencing the violence: “This collective American experience, which is so twisted to have in the wealthiest nation in the world, all of that pain that people are experiencing is being concentrated on this event,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–N.Y.) to reporters, commenting on the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, presumably at the hand of Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old with chronic pain who was apprehended following the shooting. “This is not to say that an act of violence is justified, but I think for anyone who is confused or shocked or appalled, they need to understand that ppl interpret and feel and experience denied claims as an act of violence against them. People go homeless over the financial devastation of a diagnosis that doesn’t get addressed or the amount they’re gonna have to cover with a surprise bill and things like that. And when we kind of talk about how systems are violent in this country in this passive way, our privatized health care system is like that for a huge amount of Americans.”
Gets pretty freaky when you realize how long the list is for “things lefties experience as violence.” https://t.co/6DuOh2BzBX
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) December 12, 2024
I do not know what “experience as violence” means or how the denial of a health care claim could possibly be considered violence. It’s not hard to see the direct lineage of this way of thinking, given that some progressive activists and Democratic politicians and elites in academia have spent the better part of the last decade claiming that words can be violence. The idea of what ought to be considered violence has been expanded—a bit of linguistic trickery that seems hollow and patently false to people who have actual proximity to true violence; pablum that only gets spouted by those who are quite sheltered.
Ocasio-Cortez is not only wrong to justify a murder, but she is also wrong on the merits: Government-run health care (which she supports, citing Canada specifically) does not erase suffering or indignity within the medical system. Sometimes it’s the cause.
Take the case of Adam Burgoyne, a man from Montreal who, on the cusp of turning 40, suffered an aneurysm a week ago today. “Had a bit of a health scare last night, but thankfully it wasn’t a heart attack,” he wrote on December 5. “Not sure what it was, though, because once they made sure I wasn’t dying I was thrown out into the waiting room and 6 hours later I said f*ck it and went home. Canadian health care, folks. Best in the world.” He died the next day.
Burgoyne’s tragic story has been making the rounds on the internet, but it’s one of many examples of delayed care that ends up being a denial of care because the person passes away before doctors actually figure out
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