Yes, if we just shoot the CEOs, the customers will magically stop wanting fast fashion, fast food, waste amounts of cheap meat, cheap and new electronics every year....

I don't disagree that it would have a positive effect, but I hate the overly reductive takes on systems being completely disconnected from the people. We need to realize that our (western) life style is simply not sustainable, capitalism or not. That requires serious changes for everyone, not just the "rich".

Every revolutionary thinks their utopia is only a few decapitations away, and when those don't work they move onto the next couple until your Stalin and executing kulaks who own a bit more land than their neighbors.

The reality is that a large chunk of normal people benefit from the current system and will fight to keep their cars, meat, AC, 401k evaluations etc. The largest shareholder, the ones who really control these companies, of any of these oil companies is vanguard which your current retirement plan is probably in. And that's just the minority of oil that's extracted by private companies, most is extracted by state owned corporations, and although most of that usually goes to corruption and war, a lot of it goes into welfare for some of the poorest people in the world. A lot more people rely on fossil fuels than just a handful of billionaires.

Should I be worried that my initial response to this is "Hmm, so we might be able to improve the world with a serendipitously timed anthrax outbreak at the next WEF summit?"

So call a convention and when they all bus in, 3 RPGs could clear a lot of air

Apropos that, I wonder sometimes how "100 bullets" might play out IRL

historians estimate about 200,000 to 300,000 germans were directly involved in the Shoah. many more profited from it.

It’s a reminder that large problems are often tied to concentrated power. Holding systems accountable while still pushing for collective change is probably the most constructive path forward.

They'll find new executives, bud. Executives are just the lackeys for shareholders and the board of directors. A new one will grow for each one lost.

that feels, for some reason, profound.
I mean, sure let it be 200 or 400, 1000. It's still a rounding error compared to all of humanity.

maybe that is why there is a period of prosperity after large wars. The losing side being wiped out reduces that number by half and everyone can breathe a bit more freely.

Yeah, kinda like that time Brian Thompson got shot, and the next day United Healthcare ceased to exist.

Not saying that the general point of corporations doing more harm than people is wrong. Just that if you think that the corporation is just one person, I've got a bridge to sell you.

Yes I'm sure the corporations beneath these people will simply evaporate and everything will go perfectly fine.

I said nothing of the sort. But I ask once again: If we execute these 90 people, will that make us stop burning oil? Is it at least a helpful step down the path of stopping to burn oil?

If not, then please just don't act as though these 90 people are all we have to overcome to save the planet.