Does the Celebration of the UnitedHealthcare CEO Murder Suspect Mark a Cultural Low? On the Other Hand

This is a special duplication of my weekly CNBC On the Other Hand newsletter, where I argue opposite sides of a business or tech issue in the news. You can subscribe to it at cnbc.com/OTOH.

The man who is a suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has amassed defenders and even fans on social media channels, adding a bizarre twist to the tragedy. Is this a new cultural low? Jon Fortt is here to weigh in.

JON: “This is a new cultural low.

The world was shocked last Wednesday when a masked man shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson ten blocks north of here outside the New York Hilton Midtown. The gunman fled on an e-bike. Instead of widespread condemnation of an act of wanton violence on the streets of an American city, a significant online population celebrated the killer. And his looks.

The health insurance industry in this country is unpopular for times companies have denied coverage or otherwise sought to limit costs. But some in the studio audience at Comedy Central's The Daily Show on December 9 audibly booed when host Jon Stewart announced the suspect was in custody. You get the sense some people have lost sight of the difference between watching a video game or a Netflix drama and real life.

You can disagree with the way our health insurance system functions. You can even believe some of the decisions insurance executives make awful. But this reaction to an assassination, even if just from the fringe, puts society's moral compass at risk: Once it's socially acceptable to cheer for murder, no individual life is sacred. Including your own.

The reaction is shocking, but is it that different than what we've seen before?

JON: “On the other hand, this isn't a new cultural low at all.

It's a familiar moral mudhole we visit when people feel exploited and when depravity has a pretty face.

October 3, 1995. O.J. Simpson was acquitted of the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. More than a few people celebrated, not because they believed he was innocent – but because they were rooting against a system they believed was out to get him, and them too.

Or we can go further back: July 14, 1881, a New Mexico sheriff kills a fugitive and convicted murderer, but you only know sheriff Pat Garrett's name because you know Billy the Kid. The reason why there's a legend of Billy the Kid at all is he was an outlaw during the beginning of the Gilded Age, when the rich and powerful, including coal barons and cattle ranchers, seemed to get whatever they wanted – and so people enjoyed reading about this gun-toting outlaw who managed to evade the authorities.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting the UnitedHealthcare suspect is any kind of folk hero. I am saying the fact that some are trying to make him one isn't new at all. It's a familiar sign we need to get our institutions in check when America starts rooting for criminals.