"Murder" is the new inflation word
That CEO wasn't a murderer, he was murder-ish. Also: Jersey drones, cold plunges, engagement photographers, play parties, Black Friday, and more.
NYC: One final 2024 Misguided Meditation show in Soho on Wednesday 12/18. Come thru. šļø $5 off with promo code BREATHE5 here.
Murder-ish
āThat CEO was a murderer too so his death was justified.ā
"Murder" is the new inflation word. Fine, hate that CEO, but he wasn't actually a murderer. UnitedHealthcare isn't gunning down folks in the streets, y'know? I get it, systemic violence and all that so people want to prove a point, but still: There's a difference between denying health insurance claims and being an actual assassin.
But we have to inflate everything now. So Gaza is the same as the holocaust, insults are considered violence, and being neat is labelled as OCD. We amplify anything that lets us be the real victim because then we're justified doing anything we want.
And look, this isn't me defending UnitedHealthcare, it's me loving language and not wanting to dilute powerful words until they become meaningless. So letās say Luigi is a murderer and that CEO was murder-ish, ok?
The reaction to Luigi
More about systems in a minuteā¦but letās talk more about Luigi! (See last weekās Rubesletter too, I canāt get enough.)
He killed a CEO because UnitedHealthcare is responsible for the deaths of too many Americansā¦and then he went to eat at McDonaldās. Incredible. Itās like knocking off Chris Brown to protest his treatment of women and then going to an R Kelly concert. š„
Luigi really sends the wrong message to the youth (i.e. that you can eat McDonaldās and still have abs). Btw Iāve long argued people with abs have misplaced priorities. Eat a cheeseburger, ya mad ab havers!
Everybody hates those soup can activists way more than a guy who murdered someone in cold blood which is really a helluva testament to the power of art.
Funny how social media is a bunch of people with self-diagnosed disorders insisting a cold blooded assassin is 100% completely sane. DIYPā¢ļø (Do It Yourself Psychiatry) is all the rage! It makes sense though. People who sit behind keyboards love frontier justice because they ain't ever on an actual frontier. Violence via vigilante might be a fun concept when itās just one CEO. But if this starts happening weekly, letās see how people feel about it then.
Civilized society decided to use due process for a reason. (Me: āDue process is good.ā The internet: āOK Boomer!ā) Sorry, but Iām out on having random vigilantes being the ones who get to decide who does/doesnāt deserve to live. (The internet: "So you believe propaganda spoonfed to you by the oligarch-owned media." Me: āJesus, I canāt.ā)
Itās about the system, stupid
The truth is murdering individuals to solve systemic violence is like plucking one weed and thinking [look I donāt know sh*t about gardening so finish this analogy on your own].
Maybe like this: Getting mad at a CEO who is required to maximize profits for shareholders is like getting upset with your Roomba for running over your cat's tail. It is merely doing what it is programmed to do.
Donāt like the game? Change the rules. The real solution: Our elected representatives must regulate these industries (I wonāt even go there on single payer blah blah). And that won't happen until we get massive donations from corporations and billionaires out of politics. Bernieās been saying it forever...
Liz Warren has also been proposing solutions that donāt involve murdering CEOs. But hey, it's pretty funny when š calls her Pocahontas, innit? š
I get tired of saying it, but itās kinda the answer to everything: Follow. The. Moneyā¦
"Just vote for politicians who represent your views." Thatās the thing. We can't. Health care companies spend more on lobbying than any other industry. The rage manifesting now is, in large part, about the gap between what people want and how little their bribed representatives ā on both sides ā listen.
It doesn't shock me that healthcare companies pay off our elected representatives. What shocks me is how cheaply they can be bought for (see below).
$25K? That's it? I just wanna tell these guys, "Jeez, man, you're a US Senator...KNOW YOUR WORTH, GIRL."
Our society is schizo. How else to explain the uproar over corporate greed and healthcare following an election where we chose to mainline crony capitalism into our societal veins?
Yāall think this cabinet of billionaires is gonna protect the lilā guy? My message to America: Pick a lane.
More
āļø Wait. You can write on bullets? And MAGA hasn't turned this into a merch idea yet? Genuinely shocked.
āļø Had a heckler at show on Saturday night and his name was Mario. Bothered the previous comic endlessly. So I got onstage and told him to shut up or Iād go Luigi on his a**. Killer riff about a killer, baby.
āļø An important media lesson was revealed through the reaction: Society has become FOX News vs. social media. Whatever one likes, the other hates.
āļø No relation, right?
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Quickies
šÆ I just want great power with mediocre responsibility. Is that so much to ask?
šÆ Cold plunges are pumpkin spice lattes for bros.
šÆ Kinda amazing how no late night show host has ever gone bald. What are the odds!?
šÆ I bet the worst part of being an alpha male is having to put all that gel in your hair.
šÆ If she says no, you quickly pivot from being a wholesome engagement photographer to a creepy peeping tom.
šÆ Every man secretly thinks he could be a comedian and every woman secretly thinks she could be an interior designer.
šÆ xenophobe - someone who hates foreigners
zenophobe - someone who loves attachment
šÆ People differ in how they like to give/receive love. There, I told ya the whole love language book in one sentence.
šÆ Amazing that Elon can figure out how to hug a rocket but not a human woman.
šÆ New Jersey gonna have to be like š®š± and set up an Iron Drone system.
šÆ Every drone story: "Guy Already Obsessed With Aliens Finds Excuse to Discuss Aliens More." š½
šÆ Y'all keep putting a big heart emoji over your baby's face on social media and I just wanna tell ya: Don't sweat it. We get it. Your baby's super ugly. It's cool. We won't judge. Maybe it'll grow out of it, y'know?
šÆ Gotten really into Abraham Joshua Heschel lately. Itās been a whole rabbi hole.
šÆ The gift and curse of the artistic soul is empathy. What a luxury it must be to truly detest one's enemies instead of seeking to understand them.
šÆ "Play party" feels weird to me. Makes it sound too much like we're going to wind up in the ball pit at Chuck E. Cheese when it's actually a completely different kinda...
šÆ Black Friday and coupon codes donāt make me feel like Iām getting a deal. They make me feel like Iām getting ripped off the rest of the time.
šÆ Gonna change my bio to āPublic intellectual/private fool.ā
šÆ "Can we do coffee so I can pick your brain?" No, you mental scavenger. My brainās already been picked through plenty by social media, alcohol, and time. At this point, there's not much meat left on the bone.
šÆ Itās like a junk drawer, but instead of junk, itās traumaā¦and instead of a drawer, itās this compartment in my mind.
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-Matt
P.S. Check out Working Methods for creative inspiration from art legends. Itās the perfect way to kickstart the creative processā¦
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dear matt,
thoughtful piece as always.
a couple of thoughts of my own on your thoughts:
you say "we have to inflate everything now"
and i would ask, is "we have to inflate everything now" not inflationary itself?
it's perhaps a complex needle to thread!
you say "He killed a CEO because UnitedHealthcare is responsible for the deaths of too many Americansā¦and then he went to eat at McDonaldās"
and
you also say "There's a difference between denying health insurance claims and being an actual assassin"
and
while i am certainly no fan of mcdonald's for many reasons, i would ask is there not also a NOTEWORTHY difference between causing sickness and death by denying life-saving and life-altering medical care compared with offering unhealthy food that people consent to purchase and choose to put in their bodies?
you say "if this starts happening weekly, letās see how people feel about it then"
and i would ask these questions:
1) do you think that people feel monolithically about this CEO's death? i don't. and i don't think that people's reactions on social media are a representative sample of the emotional reality felt by the population at large, which isn't monolithic either but is surely more complex and nuanced AND compassionate then the outrage-fueld algorithm would have us think.
and
2) do you know this MLK quote: "a riot is the language of the unheard"
which i'm not quoting to say that i think rioting or murdering is good, and i also don't think MLK was either, but he was expressing understanding for the unheard, and people who can't afford quality medical care in one of the richest countries in the world? they've been unheard for quite some time as well.
also, you say "I just want great power with mediocre responsibility. Is that so much to ask?"
and
i think that's fun.
thanks for sharing everything you do!
love
myq