CEO Brian Thompson’s death sparks jokes and glee: A psychologist explains the reaction

NINA MOINI: An update now for you on a story we've been following closely here on Minnesota Now-- a person of interest in the killing of United Health Care CEO Brian Thompson is in custody for police questioning. That's according to a law enforcement official who told the Associated Press. The man is being held in Pennsylvania after officials found him with a gun thought to be similar to the one used in the killing of Thompson.

Now, the deadly shooting unleashed a flood of anger online, not necessarily at Thompson's death, but oftentimes at the controversial insurance company he led and the wider health care industry. As soon as the news hit the internet, people began making ironic jokes, even delighting in the news. Some commenters vented about their own struggles to pay for health care, and some called for respect for the loved ones of Brian Thompson, including two teenage children who are grieving him now.

So joining me now to help explain the emotional responses to this incident is Terri Bly, a licensed psychologist with LynLake Centers for Well-Being in the Twin Cities. Thank you so much for joining us, Terri.

TERRI BLY: You're very welcome. Thanks for having me.

NINA MOINI: As a psychologist, we were just so curious for your take on what has been going on in reaction to Thompson's killing. Have you been surprised by what you've been reading and hearing about of some of the comments?

TERRI BLY: At first, I will say I was surprised. My first reaction was, this is terrible. This is not, generally speaking, a solution to anything. And I think as a society, we generally, I think, accept that, that cold-blooded murder is kind of a line that I think most of us draw in terms of how to handle things that are frustrating, how to deal with our feelings.

But I guess as I was reading more of the comments and giving this a little more thought, I'm still a little surprised, but it makes more sense, the more I think about the health care industry, health insurance, how people are feeling as I was reading these different comments. Yeah, it started to make more sense to me as to where this is probably coming from.

NINA MOINI: Say a little more about why you think people are responding this way.

TERRI BLY: Well, I was starting to think about-- I'll give you a quick overview of my thought process. This is more the kind of response we would expect if a drug lord or a serial killer or somebody was murdered, where we think, oh, justice is being served, or a threat has been removed from the public.

And that's what kind of got me thinking about people, I think, with health insurance having so much power over every critical area of our lives, from our actual life, our health, our well-being of ourselves, our families, they're making these decisions that really determine how well we're going to be in our own lives, and even whether or not we will live. So they've got this huge amount of power.

And then the financial strain that a lot of people go through with health insurance and health care costs, finances also determine our ability to put a roof over our heads, food in our stomachs, feed our children, do the things that we need to do in our lives. And with each passing year, it seems that health insurance, health care, whatever costs have more and more power over those things, have more likelihood of having a negative impact on us. And so I think what that then kind of makes health insurance is a bit of an existential threat, because they have that power-- and they're faceless. We don't have any-- we feel like we have no power.

These are not faces. These are not people we get to talk to. And so there are these people in power that we don't have access to that are making literal life-and-death decisions about us, which I think makes them feel more like a threat than actual people, if that makes sense.

NINA MOINI: They are in a powerful position. And, speaking of people in powerful positions, over the past decade or so that I've been reporting here in the state, I have heard from elected officials on the local or the state level, a lot of elected people, that have just said the vitriolic comments toward them and everything has just gotten so negative. And that's anecdotal, of course. But I am curious, from your perspective, as we were thinking about the situation with Brian Thompson, I thought, Is this getting worse? Has this gotten worse, and is this the new normal? What's your opinion on that?

So I think it'd be tempting to draw some connection to how we are as a society-- Are we becoming less empathic, less compassionate? And, well, certainly, it's possible, and we'll know over time, I guess, as the next few years play out and we see how people respond to different challenges or tragedies. My guess, though, is that this is really-- if this is growing over time, I suspect what's growing over time is that perceived powerlessness and that perceived discrepancy between the people in power and the people who don't have power, the people with all the wealth.

We're reading about how much in profit health care companies are making and how much the CEOs are paid. And the people who are reading this are the ones who are having to decide, Am I going to pay my rent or am I going to pay for my medication? And so when those are the people reading about all of the money that's being made at their expense, I think as that increases or as the perception of that difference increases, I think, yes, you're going to see more vitriol, more negative emotion being directed, again, towards those that people hold responsible for their suffering.

NINA MOINI: And tell me a little bit about what that does. Do people get an emotional benefit from withholding sympathy from someone that they perhaps view as immoral? And then do they get bolstered by the sense of anonymity that comes from being online?

TERRI BLY: I mean, sure, when we're putting words down in a public forum and we're not seen, my guess is that people would not be making jokes if they were talking to this CEO's children. When there are actual faces that we're interacting with and we can see their reactions, yes, we're going to speak differently. We're going to watch our words more carefully.

And so, yes, putting things down on an anonymous forum, on a public forum, on the comment section of whatever social media or newspaper, yeah, I think we're going to be more straightforward, but I think we're just going to be more honest about how we're thinking and how we're feeling. So I don't think it's that there-- I'm not going go out there and say that somehow, we're getting a joy from being this awful online. I think there just isn't that filter that we would normally use if there were people in front of us, and we saw their facial expressions.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. And there's also this aspect of dark humor and all of these kind of negative emotions. Can you talk a little bit about when that becomes harmful in a community setting? Or maybe it just builds on itself like a little monster.

TERRI BLY: I think there's something cathartic about expressing pent-up resentment and rage and powerlessness. And I think when people are feeling powerless, they're going to want to find an outlet where they feel like they have more power. And so, yes, they're going to maybe go to a public forum where there aren't going to be the consequences that there may be-- What if they were at work making these kinds of statements? But I don't know if I answered your question.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, it's all anecdotal. But I am curious, you've spoken a lot about powerlessness. And that is something I think most people can relate to in various parts of their lives. What do you tell clients who maybe feel like they're not being seen or they do feel powerless? What is a healthier way to channel that?

TERRI BLY: That's a really good question. Again, I don't know-- I want to be careful because I don't know as the way people are expressing it is necessarily unhealthy. I think that certainly, I can't imagine being the CEO's family right now and seeing the responses. I cannot actually imagine how awful that would be.

And I don't know-- but I don't want to say that having these-- expressing these negative feelings is in and of itself unhealthy because people are feeling this resentment, and they're feeling the powerlessness. And so they do need an outlet for it. And there are worse places and worse ways to voice that than in writing on a public forum, than in a community. I think people want to feel like they can be heard, that they have a place to voice how they're feeling.

And so if there aren't any other forums for this where they feel like they can do it without being fired from their job or ostracized from their family or I don't know-- Where else would you express this? But I do think people should get to talk about how they're feeling. I think, of course, we can talk about they can voice their frustrations to a therapist or to their local representative, find some support groups or whatever, find other outlets.

But, again, I don't as it's necessarily unhealthy to put this in a discussion forum either, depending on what the consequences are and who else is reading that, of course. I think you always need to be careful what you put online because you never know who's going to read that. And if your name is attached to it, yes, of course. Somebody could be reading this that you didn't imagine would read your comment, and then there are going to be consequences.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. Definitely think before you type. And this is a really fascinating conversation from a psychological standpoint. I really appreciate you coming on to break this down for us.

TERRI BLY: Yeah, you're very welcome. And I do hope that people in power, the CEOs and health care companies and politicians, I actually hope that they don't write this off as some reflection of society being bad. I hope they can really hear this as this is kind of a warning signal that people are really angry, and they're feeling really resentful, and it's actually having a negative impact on their ability to be compassionate. And, to me, that's a red flag. That's a sign that things are not-- people are not in a good place. And I hope they can hear this and maybe try to learn from it.

NINA MOINI: Thank you, Terri.

TERRI BLY: Yes, thank you very much for having me on.

NINA MOINI: That was Terri Bly, a licensed psychologist with LynLake Centers for Well-Being in the Twin Cities.