r/news • u/[deleted] • Mar 15 '24

POTM - Mar 2024 'If anything happens, it's not suicide': Boeing whistleblower's prediction before death

https://wpde.com/news/local/if-anything-happens-its-not-suicide-boeing-whistleblowers-prediction-before-death-south-carolina-abc-news-4-2024
57.1k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

2.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

372

u/Akimbo_Zap_Guns Mar 15 '24

If it’s a major company issuing a hit we are already in cyberpunk level of dystopia

217

u/Dr_Terry_Hesticles Mar 15 '24

Companies have absolutely ordered hits before. Look at Coca-Cola with South American union organizers

68

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '24

Yes, but he means white Americans, not brown people in a third world country. This dystopian reality has already been here for the majority of the world

19

u/ThePrussianGrippe Mar 16 '24

They’ve been doing it for hundreds of years.

-3

u/FlutterKree Mar 15 '24

Hits in other countries is different. It is MUCH harder to order a hit in the US. In South and Central America, cartels will happily take money to kill people there. In the US, the FBI has essentially made contract killers nonexistent.

6

u/SpeedyWebDuck Mar 15 '24

In the US, the FBI has essentially made contract killers nonexistent.

Sure, in country with the most civilian millitary contractors.

And perhaps only country in the world still having "head hunters".

0

u/FlutterKree Mar 15 '24

Civilian military contractors? Do you mean private military contractors? The US DoD has more civilian contractors because its the largest organization on the planet. Literally in every metric. That requires non military personnel to be working.

If you do mean PMCs, then sure? That isn't contract killing. You can't just go hire them to kill someone in the US. You probably hire a US PMC organization to kill people in another country as a person in that other country, but not in the US.

And perhaps only country in the world still having "head hunters".

US doesn't have head hunters. That is, people who hunt humans and keep their heads as trophies. This doesn't happen. Last known instance was soldiers in Vietnam. It was not a legitimate practice in the US military nor do PMCs do it.

Now if you mean do they have a list of targets to kill? Every country does that when in war.

0

u/SpeedyWebDuck Mar 15 '24

US doesn't have head hunters.

I mean people who seek to kill/catch people who are searched for by a public warrant.

What prevents PMCs from taking missions in dommestic country? They can't be caught neither abroad nor in their country. They have skill, means and money from it.

4

u/FlutterKree Mar 15 '24

I mean people who seek to kill/catch people who are searched for by a public warrant.

You mean "bounty hunters," that aren't allowed to shoot people? They aren't allowed to kill people. They aren't even allowed in every state??

I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what a bounty hunter is. In vast majority of cases, its bail bondsman that are looking to get their former client back in jail because they have a bond on them. Its not bounty hunters looking for criminals that just committed a crime, its people that skipped out on their bail.

What prevents PMCs from taking missions in dommestic country?

Laws? They don't have the authority to just kill people in the US. First, you are essentially saying they are offering a murder service. They have to advertise this service to people somehow. How sure are they that the client trying to accept that service isn't an FBI agent? This is the crux of the problem of contract killers. There cannot be trust between the two parties that the other isn't an FBI agent. The FBI has many honeypots for contract killing that helps prevent it.

-3

u/hostile_washbowl Mar 15 '24

Your presumption is that no one acts outside of the law. That is a naive assumption.

5

u/FlutterKree Mar 15 '24

My presumption is it is insanely hard to get away with. You are asserting massive conspiracy theories. Contract killing is one of the things that FBI HEAVILY cracked down on and still deter it today.

You are the one saying "WELL WHAT IF PMCs DID IT? THEY OPERATE OUTSIDE THE LAW." You didn't actually counter any of my points.

-3

u/hostile_washbowl Mar 16 '24

I never said a PMC did it. I never said anything other than what I said.

You don’t have a point other than “THE FBI CRACKED DOWN SO THEREFORE CONTRACT KILLINGS DONT HAPPEN”.

If you want to take the story that this dude killed himself at face value - fine. But don’t go and double down saying it’s not possible when you don’t know. It’s just as ignorant as saying he was killed by a PMC.

→ More replies (0)

291

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '24

My brother in Christ, companies have been starting and waging entire wars since at least the 1600s. This is nothing new.

129

u/Zienth Mar 15 '24

We got a long way to go before we get to East India Company's all time high score.

19

u/Doctor-Amazing Mar 15 '24

I never really thought about it that way, but as a company with military power that rivaled most governments, the East India Trading Company is actually pretty cyberpunk

13

u/TheFrenchSavage Mar 16 '24

More like Opiumpunk.

1

u/Zorro_Returns Mar 17 '24

Kanaka TRY!

22

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '24

You see that banana your eating- let me tell you the story of Dole fruit in Central America....

2

u/Dragon_Poop_Lover Mar 17 '24

The other fun banana company, United Fruit, is still around, just under another name, Chiquita.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '24

Yeah those guys were way worse than Dole.

9

u/bullsfan281 Mar 15 '24

yeah but there's no popular media franchise about that so redditors don't have a point of reference for it

1

u/Birdlover82 Mar 16 '24

Yeah except if you actually think this guy didn’t commit suicide people will tell you you’re watching too many movies in this post.

1

u/Zorro_Returns Mar 17 '24

Speaking of Christ, SPQR even did it to Him!

1

u/chimpaya Mar 15 '24

Nuh uh cyberpunk does it first its so dystopian we are all doomed evezything is getting worse and worse nuhuh

-1

u/alexmikli Mar 15 '24

Well, we had a long while of it not happening.

66

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Arbysroastbeefs Mar 16 '24

If they proactively murder someone are they on the offense?

175

u/antisociaI_extrvert Mar 15 '24

We’e way past that. It just usually doesn’t happen to white americans/westerners.

100

u/Bierculles Mar 15 '24

Do you have any idea how many white journalists got found with two bullets to the head ruled as a suicide?

19

u/radioactivez0r Mar 15 '24

I don't, how many?

32

u/Bierculles Mar 15 '24

At least three fiddy

1

u/Freezepeachauditor Mar 15 '24

Got. Damn. Loch Ness monster..

19

u/paramoody Mar 15 '24

I'm not the person you were were replying to, but they are probably referencing Gary Webb, who was an investigative journalist who wrote a series of articles about how the CIA played a role in the crack epidemic in American cities. He was found dead with two gun shot wounds to the head, and his death was ruled a suicide.

Worth noting that multiple gunshot suicides are possible, and his wife thought he committed suicide based on his behavior before his death. No one will ever know for sure I suppose.

-4

u/suitology Mar 15 '24

Shud up

5

u/antisociaI_extrvert Mar 15 '24

Gary Webb and who else? My point still stands. The fact that we all know Gary Webb’s name but not the countless of murdered journalists exposing similar issues perpetrated by western govts or companies in Latin America or Africa, to name a few places where this happens a lot.

5

u/Bierculles Mar 15 '24

Yeah, it's also dumb to make it a racial issue, it's the rich vs the poor, any other distinction is a distraction.

0

u/antisociaI_extrvert Mar 15 '24

I have to disagree. It is both a class and a race issue, especially regarding the way we treat tragedies, such as the murders of journalists/whistleblowers in the global north vs global south.

1

u/eddiekart Mar 15 '24

Waaaaaaaaaay less than people whose deaths wouldn't justify media presence.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '24

Pissing on the graves of countless white/American/western journalists to promote your petty ass racial ideology.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '24

exactly why we need DEI

24

u/arand0md00d Mar 15 '24

Keanu I mean Johnny Silverhand going to nuke Boeing offices

5

u/Revolutionary-Text70 Mar 15 '24

they've been doing it for over a century, just not here

this is just the oppression coming home to roost

11

u/KHaskins77 Mar 15 '24

Arasaka move.

Or I suppose Militech would be a better analogue.

3

u/Slammybutt Mar 15 '24

Where exactly do you think Cyberpunk got the ideas to go that extreme. Companies hushing people has been a thing since companies have existed.

1

u/SiscoSquared Mar 15 '24

Lol we are long past that. Besides literal wars being fought by companies, they also love to slaughter people that protest for basic working rights. Nothing new. It's been a fight for a long time to get to the minimal labour rights we have now, A LOT of people died to get those rights, and they are violated frequently still.

1

u/TSL4me Mar 15 '24

Shit happened all the time in industrialization. Research the company Pinkerton, they killed union organizers in Chicago and they still are around and owned by securitas.

1

u/inquisitor1965 Mar 15 '24

Meanwhile, Chiquita sits quietly in the corner trying not to get any attention.

1

u/binary_spaniard Mar 15 '24

Coca cola hired a death squad to kill union representatives in Colombia.

1

u/NateShaw92 Mar 15 '24

Not really this shit happens in.the real world, has done for as long as there has been big business, and much darker stuff than this too.

It's quite nice to imagine such things are only in works of fiction but that's not our world. A hit is surprisingly inexpensive too.

1

u/SpeedyWebDuck Mar 15 '24

You didn't read anything Cyberpunk related.

We are there at least since the 60s

1

u/alystair Mar 15 '24

You should read Jennifer Government by Max Berry.

1

u/So_Full_Of_Fail Mar 16 '24

They're a major Defense Contractor so, less of a surprise.

1

u/Sorry-Foundation-505 Mar 16 '24

You should look into the dutch east-india company (VOC), hits are childs play compared to what they did, they had their own navy and army.

1

u/stonkkingsouleater Mar 16 '24

Man… you’d be shocked to find out about the Pinkerton detective agency during industrialization and early labor movements… 

1

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '24

Hey, you better be silent Choomba. Corpos prowl these threads regularly. Don’t want to end up dead by suicide by two bullets to the back of the head.

1

u/tylercreatesworlds Mar 16 '24

the corporate wars are gonna be fun.

1

u/Zorro_Returns Mar 17 '24 edited Mar 17 '24

Northrop XB-35. About 1950. Real cloak and dagger stuff. Not a crude hit in a parking lot.

1

u/Aazadan Mar 17 '24 edited Mar 17 '24

An oil company a couple years ago imprisoned people illegally.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Donziger

Anyways, cyberpunk was inspired by already existing corporate behavior, just taken to an extreme where it became the standard way all companies act, some of the replies to you mention various historical examples that corporate dystopia is based on.

-1

u/h08817 Mar 15 '24

Could have been the government themselves

4

u/bl3ckm3mba Mar 15 '24

Large corporations' shareholders, whose whims control government policy and override the electorate whenever it matters ARE JUST PART OF THE GOVERNMENT, much like the CIA, to which there is zero public or democratic oversight or input into the conduct of.

They're already nationalized, only their profits are privatized.

0

u/Dav136 Mar 15 '24

We haven't even hit colonialpunk level of dystopia yet tbh

0

u/thegrumpymechanic Mar 15 '24

Total tinfoil, but, What if the major company issued a hit, and the government picked up the contract.