Here’s a disturbing thought: after ‘gunboat diplomacy’ are we seeing the rise of ‘gunman politics’?
Take a look at the featured image. For those who can’t read it, the text says, “One person with a pistol just shook the ruling class more than decades of peaceful organising.”
It refers to the murder of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson, for which Luigi Mangione has been arrested. Shell casings found at the scene of the killing were marked “deny”, “defend” and “depose” – referring to the supposed “three Ds of insurance”, tactics used by insurance companies to reject payment claims by patients in America’s healthcare system.
The killing has sent ripples of unrest across the western world because, as the image suggests, it represents a move away from peaceful protest against unfair behaviour by organisations that hold power over us, and towards violence.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Previously, it seems, insurance firms believed they could dodge out of paying out on claims whenever they wanted, because they could manipulate the law to put it on their side. The UK government even employed US insurance giant Unum to advice on how to avoid paying social security benefits to sick and disabled people – after it had been convicted of insurance fraud.
But the killing of Mr Thompson has raised the stakes. Insurance bosses no longer have the protection of the law because unhappy clients are taking the law into their own hands.
And where governments previously needed only to worry about rioting if there was outrage against their decisions, now MPs and ministers are living in a very real fear of being targeted for physical harm to themselves.
In the UK it’s a very real reversal of fortune for a system that used to use ‘gunboat diplomacy’ – the threat of warfare against other nations during disputes with them, in which the superior power (always the UK) would be sure to win.
Now it seems politicians face an era of ‘gunman politics’ – in which decisions that upset individual citizens may lead to them looking down the barrel of a gun, or feeling the sharp end of a knife.
And they only have themselves to blame.
After decades of believing that they could do whatever the liked to the plebs, the proles, and particularly the sick and disabled, on the understanding that these people are too weak to harm them back, politicians and big businesspeople are now discovering that it is possible to push too far – now that people are pushing back.
One would have expected the murders of MPs Jo Cox and David Amess would have been enough for UK governments to loosen the screws on the rest of us, but the message seems not to have penetrated far enough into the political establishment. Until now.
The question is: what will they do – our politicians and business executives who are now living in the shadow of the bullet?
Will they reform their behaviour and the systems they run to make them genuinely fairer?
Or will they carry on as before and hope that someone else takes the bullet next time?
Hmm. Maybe I was mistaken to suggest this is about ‘gunman politics’. A more appropriate description might be ‘Russian roulette’.
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The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
After ‘gunboat diplomacy’ are we seeing the rise of ‘gunman politics’?
Here’s a disturbing thought: after ‘gunboat diplomacy’ are we seeing the rise of ‘gunman politics’?
Take a look at the featured image. For those who can’t read it, the text says, “One person with a pistol just shook the ruling class more than decades of peaceful organising.”
It refers to the murder of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson, for which Luigi Mangione has been arrested. Shell casings found at the scene of the killing were marked “deny”, “defend” and “depose” – referring to the supposed “three Ds of insurance”, tactics used by insurance companies to reject payment claims by patients in America’s healthcare system.
The killing has sent ripples of unrest across the western world because, as the image suggests, it represents a move away from peaceful protest against unfair behaviour by organisations that hold power over us, and towards violence.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Previously, it seems, insurance firms believed they could dodge out of paying out on claims whenever they wanted, because they could manipulate the law to put it on their side. The UK government even employed US insurance giant Unum to advice on how to avoid paying social security benefits to sick and disabled people – after it had been convicted of insurance fraud.
But the killing of Mr Thompson has raised the stakes. Insurance bosses no longer have the protection of the law because unhappy clients are taking the law into their own hands.
And where governments previously needed only to worry about rioting if there was outrage against their decisions, now MPs and ministers are living in a very real fear of being targeted for physical harm to themselves.
In the UK it’s a very real reversal of fortune for a system that used to use ‘gunboat diplomacy’ – the threat of warfare against other nations during disputes with them, in which the superior power (always the UK) would be sure to win.
Now it seems politicians face an era of ‘gunman politics’ – in which decisions that upset individual citizens may lead to them looking down the barrel of a gun, or feeling the sharp end of a knife.
And they only have themselves to blame.
After decades of believing that they could do whatever the liked to the plebs, the proles, and particularly the sick and disabled, on the understanding that these people are too weak to harm them back, politicians and big businesspeople are now discovering that it is possible to push too far – now that people are pushing back.
One would have expected the murders of MPs Jo Cox and David Amess would have been enough for UK governments to loosen the screws on the rest of us, but the message seems not to have penetrated far enough into the political establishment. Until now.
The question is: what will they do – our politicians and business executives who are now living in the shadow of the bullet?
Will they reform their behaviour and the systems they run to make them genuinely fairer?
Or will they carry on as before and hope that someone else takes the bullet next time?
Hmm. Maybe I was mistaken to suggest this is about ‘gunman politics’. A more appropriate description might be ‘Russian roulette’.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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