{"id":139,"date":"2025-04-25T18:22:47","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T17:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/nova\/?p=139"},"modified":"2025-06-03T14:36:38","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T13:36:38","slug":"has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/2025\/04\/25\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\/","title":{"rendered":"Has social media caused us to become desensitised to death: The Murder of a CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
 Image by FBI from Wikimedia<\/em><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Did you find yourself feeling guilty for joking online about the assassination of the CEO of United Healthcare? Experts reveal why you are not a terrible person for laughing at a meme.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thousands took to social media to mock the murder of 50-year-old Brian Thompson. He was shot multiple times in the back with a pistol, by a hooded figure who fled the scene on a bike. The movie style assassination caused social media users to flood TikTok with memes, comments and jokes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
 \u201cI submitted a claim for my condolences, but it got denied \ud83d\ude41 so sad,\u201d one user wrote. \u201cNew shoot a CEO trend?\u201d said another. The victim, who was assassinated in New York on the 4th of<\/sup> December 2024, was the CEO of United Healthcare. News outlets were sharing their condolences, whilst the public were sharing memes, and you probably found yourself giggling to some of the posts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lack of empathy showed by people online led me to pose the question, has social media caused us to become desensitised to death?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOn the surface it seems like people are desensitised to violence when they are celebrating the CEO getting killed,\u201d Timothy Recuber<\/a> an Associate Professor in the department of Sociology at Smith College says. \u201cBut it comes out of an atmosphere where there is a repressed feeling of class consciousness, a really broad segment of the population that feels upset about the way health insurance companies treat all of us.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With his research focusing on mass media, digital culture and death, he thinks that people are not getting less empathetic, but that they are pushing back at what the CEO represents. Although on the surface social media users are making fun of the death of a man, they are also mocking the healthcare system in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to data collected by the information organisation KFF one in ten adults (41%) reported having dept due to medical or dental bills and one in five adults (21%) say they have not filled their prescription due to the cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEverybody knows someone, if it isn\u2019t them, or multiple people who have horrible dealings with insurance companies,\u201d Recuber says, \u201cWho have had to pay enormous costs even when they\u2019re insured, or who understand what it\u2019s like to not have health insurance and worry about getting sick.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having to pay for access to medical care and getting insurance requests denied by a rich man getting richer has led to tension forming on social media. Although Brian Thompson tragically passed away, the multimillionaire ran a company that decided whether someone\u2019s grandma could get the financial help they needed to receive medical treatment, so it is hard to say people are desensitised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
 Steven Gimbel<\/a>, a professor of Philosophy at Gettysburg College, who has written a book on the philosophy of ethics agreed that the politics have affected the humour. \u201cIllnesses don\u2019t choose who are worthy and unworthy, in America you will go bankrupt,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause of our ethos causing death for profit isn\u2019t seen as mass murder, but pulling a gun on a person and shooting them in the back is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clearly people are angry that medical care has turned into a profit driven business that allows millionaires to play golf, whilst you lie in hospital bed, but hopefully you would not laugh in a widow\u2019s face. Why are people willing to post insensitive things online that they would rarely say to someone\u2019s face?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
 Ayse D. Lokmanoglu<\/a> an Assistant Professor of Media Studies at Boston University who researches the mainstreaming of supremacist ideologies on the internet, believes our online behaviour is different to how we interact offline because it is easier to express more emotions. \u201cWe look for interpersonal cues, we look at each other\u2019s face, we think, we process. Online it is very quick, and we don\u2019t look for those things, we are much more impulsive,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gimbel also agreed that our online behaviour is different. \u201cOnline communication is a really odd combination of public and private,\u201d he says. \u201cIt feels like I am just talking to friends and here I am in my bedroom in my pyjamas. What I am actually doing is broadcasting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is hard to express your political views, when you are not a writer for New York Times or a presenter on ITV, so social media has become a platform for this, \u201cSocial media helps people share these grievances and they belong,\u201d Lokmanoglu says, \u201cIt creates a sense of belonging against an inequal system that they are in and personally cannot find a solution out of”.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recuber also agreed, \u201cMaybe you are not feeling how the mainstream media wants you to feel, you were feeling something else and seeing that other people thought that same thing is validating,\u201d he says. Although social media allows you to become part of a group, you never truly know who you are talking to. When people create a new profile, change their name and use a different image they have anonymity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou can create an online identity, which maybe isn\u2019t the real you. The ability to do that allows a mask,\u201d Gimbel says, \u201cThere is this sense of evil as mere performance.\u201d The ability to change your personality online, allows you to say things you would not normally say, without consequence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The wave of influencers making thousands from one post has also influenced the comments on the assassination. Rather than sharing their political opinions or expressing their emotions they could be trying to get more likes and views. \u201cVirality is big and the more likes and shares you get the more money you can make,\u201d says Lokmanoglu. \u201cWhen you monetise virality, humour is very hard for content moderation. Humour is like \u2018oh, I\u2019m joking you don\u2019t need to take that down\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aside from monetising the comments, it can be said that social media users just enjoy getting likes and shares as well. \u201cSo much of social media is based on the thrill you get when someone likes something you post and also the tiny thrill of seeing other people feel what you feel and think what you think,\u201d Recuber says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although social media and politics has affected why people are able to mock death it is also important to look into the ethics of humour. Dark humour can be seen throughout history and has existed long before TikTok, so is social media just the new library? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“If you look back there is actually an ancient joke book going back to Roman Times called Philogelos, there has always been this ability to use humour to bring the powerful down,\u201d Steve Gimbel says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lokmanoglu also agreed, \u201cthis is not the first time we have seen humour used to justify death and we are less worried about it, and I think maybe we should be a bit more concerned\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although dark humour has been used throughout history, is using it to mock death inappropriate? Gimbel suggested that there are four things you need to look at to determine whether a joke is appropriate. \u201cYou need to look at the joke itself, the person telling the joke, the target of the joke and the larger contexts. It\u2019s all four of these factors intricately combined that determine whether that joke was morally permissible,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his book he suggested the idea of \u2018joke currency\u2019, where people in oppressed groups can make jokes about their oppressor, as they have \u2018currency\u2019. \u201cWe can see the billionaire class as having oppressed the 99% which then gives joke capitol to mock billionaires in ways they would not have to mock us,\u201d he says. Using this method, it could be suggested that social media users have joke capital against the rich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the justification that the trolling is okay, are the jokes just mean and unempathetic? Recuber argues that empathy can be monopolised in popular culture, but social media is a venue to push back. \u201cThere\u2019s an idea that empathy is broadly good and interpersonally we should be empathetic as we can to all the people in our lives. But I want to suggest that empathy, publicly can be weaponised,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
 \u201cSo, we get back to the early issue of whether social media desensitises us, we\u2019re pushed to empathise with certain people in certain ways and not to empathise with certain people in other ways.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You may have found yourself feeling guilty about laughing at the posts being made. Questioning whether you are a bad person for agreeing with the memes and feeling unsure about how you should react to the assassination. Should you repost a comment or stay silent?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well according to the experts you are not a horrible person for feeling differently than the mainstream media and laughing at dark humour. There are all these factors combined that explains why people reacted to the death this way. It is not as simple as desensitisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For more stories on Social Media click here: https:\/\/illuminatedmag.co.uk\/social-media\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Did you find yourself feeling guilty for joking online about the assassination of the CEO of United Healthcare? Experts reveal why you are not a terrible person for laughing at a meme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":192,"featured_media":933,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70,18],"tags":[156,25],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-millie","category-social-media","tag-ceo","tag-social-media"],"yoast_head":"\nHas social media caused us to become desensitised to death: The Murder of a CEO - Illuminated<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore why laughing at memes about a controversial assassination reflects social frustrations\u2014not just desensitisation to death.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/2025\/04\/25\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Has social media caused us to become desensitised to death: The Murder of a CEO - Illuminated\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Explore why laughing at memes about a controversial assassination reflects social frustrations\u2014not just desensitisation to death.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/2025\/04\/25\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Illuminated\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-25T17:22:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-03T13:36:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/04\/Killing_of_Brian_Thompson_suspect_FBI_seeking_information_poster-e1748008218366.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1018\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"572\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Millie Dearing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Millie Dearing\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/25\\\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/25\\\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Millie Dearing\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4e18544add12b9ad90488c98260c0517\"},\"headline\":\"Has social media caused us to become desensitised to death: The Murder of a CEO\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-25T17:22:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-03T13:36:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/25\\\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1519,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/25\\\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/43\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Killing_of_Brian_Thompson_suspect_FBI_seeking_information_poster-e1748008218366.png\",\"keywords\":[\"CEO\",\"Social media\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Millie\",\"Social Media\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/25\\\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/25\\\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\\\/\",\"name\":\"Has social media caused us to become desensitised to death: The Murder of a CEO - Illuminated\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/25\\\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/25\\\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/43\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Killing_of_Brian_Thompson_suspect_FBI_seeking_information_poster-e1748008218366.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-25T17:22:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-03T13:36:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4e18544add12b9ad90488c98260c0517\"},\"description\":\"Explore why laughing at memes about a controversial assassination reflects social frustrations\u2014not just desensitisation to death.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/25\\\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/25\\\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/25\\\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/43\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Killing_of_Brian_Thompson_suspect_FBI_seeking_information_poster-e1748008218366.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/43\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/Killing_of_Brian_Thompson_suspect_FBI_seeking_information_poster-e1748008218366.png\",\"width\":1018,\"height\":572,\"caption\":\"Image from Wikimedia by FBI\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/25\\\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Has social media caused us to become desensitised to death: The Murder of a CEO\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/\",\"name\":\"Illuminated\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4e18544add12b9ad90488c98260c0517\",\"name\":\"Millie Dearing\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3a727abe8e64831dabfcbb82e9c5bdebfafd9d02b1d9a7cb7e0e206cf4073b5a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3a727abe8e64831dabfcbb82e9c5bdebfafd9d02b1d9a7cb7e0e206cf4073b5a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3a727abe8e64831dabfcbb82e9c5bdebfafd9d02b1d9a7cb7e0e206cf4073b5a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Millie Dearing\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jusmedia.co.uk\\\/illuminatedmag\\\/author\\\/joc21md\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Has social media caused us to become desensitised to death: The Murder of a CEO - Illuminated","description":"Explore why laughing at memes about a controversial assassination reflects social frustrations\u2014not just desensitisation to death.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/2025\/04\/25\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Has social media caused us to become desensitised to death: The Murder of a CEO - Illuminated","og_description":"Explore why laughing at memes about a controversial assassination reflects social frustrations\u2014not just desensitisation to death.","og_url":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/2025\/04\/25\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\/","og_site_name":"Illuminated","article_published_time":"2025-04-25T17:22:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-03T13:36:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1018,"height":572,"url":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/04\/Killing_of_Brian_Thompson_suspect_FBI_seeking_information_poster-e1748008218366.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Millie Dearing","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Millie Dearing","Estimated reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/2025\/04\/25\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/2025\/04\/25\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\/"},"author":{"name":"Millie Dearing","@id":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/#\/schema\/person\/4e18544add12b9ad90488c98260c0517"},"headline":"Has social media caused us to become desensitised to death: The Murder of a CEO","datePublished":"2025-04-25T17:22:47+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-03T13:36:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/2025\/04\/25\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\/"},"wordCount":1519,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/2025\/04\/25\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/04\/Killing_of_Brian_Thompson_suspect_FBI_seeking_information_poster-e1748008218366.png","keywords":["CEO","Social media"],"articleSection":["Millie","Social Media"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/2025\/04\/25\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\/","url":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/2025\/04\/25\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\/","name":"Has social media caused us to become desensitised to death: The Murder of a CEO - Illuminated","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/2025\/04\/25\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/2025\/04\/25\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/04\/Killing_of_Brian_Thompson_suspect_FBI_seeking_information_poster-e1748008218366.png","datePublished":"2025-04-25T17:22:47+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-03T13:36:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/#\/schema\/person\/4e18544add12b9ad90488c98260c0517"},"description":"Explore why laughing at memes about a controversial assassination reflects social frustrations\u2014not just desensitisation to death.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/2025\/04\/25\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/2025\/04\/25\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/2025\/04\/25\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/04\/Killing_of_Brian_Thompson_suspect_FBI_seeking_information_poster-e1748008218366.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/04\/Killing_of_Brian_Thompson_suspect_FBI_seeking_information_poster-e1748008218366.png","width":1018,"height":572,"caption":"Image from Wikimedia by FBI"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/2025\/04\/25\/has-social-media-caused-us-to-become-desensitised-to-death-the-murder-of-a-ceo\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Has social media caused us to become desensitised to death: The Murder of a CEO"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/","name":"Illuminated","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/#\/schema\/person\/4e18544add12b9ad90488c98260c0517","name":"Millie Dearing","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3a727abe8e64831dabfcbb82e9c5bdebfafd9d02b1d9a7cb7e0e206cf4073b5a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3a727abe8e64831dabfcbb82e9c5bdebfafd9d02b1d9a7cb7e0e206cf4073b5a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3a727abe8e64831dabfcbb82e9c5bdebfafd9d02b1d9a7cb7e0e206cf4073b5a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Millie Dearing"},"url":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/author\/joc21md\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/192"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2237,"href":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions\/2237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/illuminatedmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}