Shkreli as Sacrificial Lamb, Distraction, and Strawman

So I'm a writer. If I were to invent Martin Shkreli, I would need to dial him back several notches before I would think of him as far-fetched. The guy isn't a corporate greedhead. He's a cartoon. People like to think that "Pharma Bro" nonsense has shed light on on the evil BS going on behind the scenes. I instead see a moving of the goal posts when it comes to corruption, greed, malfeasance, skulduggery, and general douchebaggery.

How many corporate swine are going to be able to get a pass from the general public because their level-set is this guy's Snidely Whiplash routine?

And now they're selling him up the river. See Everyone? This system "works." If you're bad enough and evil enough and if your corporate shenanigans hurt enough people, then surely our diligent and responsible criminal justice system will see to it that justice is served. No need to rise up. No need to vote your financial interests. No need to hunt these people down and put their heads on pikes all along Wall Street.

Almost seems he was custom made for this gig.

Weird.

No

The big boys, the guys with REAL money are just way better at the game than him.

He sucks at it, thats why he got caught.

a reply to: RobertAntonWeishaupt

I'm with Muse... he messed with the big boys -- as in Big Pharma. That's a no no. He sure isn't being taken down for our benefit.

a reply to: RobertAntonWeishaupt

I have to admit that it crossed my mind that he seems like a contemporary caricature of Snidely Whiplash or something. I suppose giving him a mustache to twirl while in his contempt driven monologues would have been too much for even the most gullible public to take. He does seem like a crafted villain. Or a psychopath, even then though, it's almost text book; like he is reading the DSM-5 and saying: "ok. Lack of empathy... Check. Disinhibited behavior... Check. Delusions of Grandeur... Check." I mean it's just nuts. Maybe he is a fall guy, but if he is, he is a fully cognizant one and is either being blackmailed or compensated in some way.

He's not that bad. Really. I mean that.

There are far worse people doing far worse things every day, only they happen not to attract notice for doing something so fundamentally stupid as rising the price of that medication to, what was it, $750? Something like that.

We've got governments promoting peace and then enlisting black marketeers to sell and transport weapons and ammunition so that they won't take the blame if caught.

There are businessmen defrauding and deceiving, extorting protection money, feasting upon the ruins of poverty. Steve Jobs made billions with the help of slave labour, and yet his death was lamented by so many. We've got countries who are so corrupt that they rank the best in corruption ratings, because they're so good at hiding it that it's considered standard practice.

Trillions of dollars move around the world each day, in cash changing hands or as little bit of data sent speeding through cables to appear as a number on a screen. We cannot account for every dollar, every ruble, every pound, every won.

When someone like Shkreli comes along, we'll jump on him and condemn him as loudly as possible, and when we're done doing that, we'll go straight back to funding slave trading corporations, handing over hundreds, thousands of dollars for the sake of a name.

Too many people think the only way to choose things is to consciously speak in their favour. What too many people don't realise, is that our actions are far more telling than our words. Knowing that chocolate is usually made with slave labour, will you stop eating it? Will you stop using your laptop? Will you stop using tyres? Will you stop eating seafood?

Say what you want, but we're now in a trap where we cannot continue our lifestyle without the continuation of slavery, corruption and greed.

Shkreli doesn't matter. Everyone knows who he is now. It's the people we don't know whom we need to worry about.

originally posted by: RobertAntonWeishaupt
So I'm a writer. If I were to invent Martin Shkreli, I would need to dial him back several notches before I would think of him as far-fetched. The guy isn't a corporate greedhead. He's a cartoon. People like to think that "Pharma Bro" nonsense has shed light on on the evil BS going on behind the scenes. I instead see a moving of the goal posts when it comes to corruption, greed, malfeasance, skulduggery, and general douchebaggery.

How many corporate swine are going to be able to get a pass from the general public because their level-set is this guy's Snidely Whiplash routine?

And now they're selling him up the river. See Everyone? This system "works." If you're bad enough and evil enough and if your corporate shenanigans hurt enough people, then surely our diligent and responsible criminal justice system will see to it that justice is served. No need to rise up. No need to vote your financial interests. No need to hunt these people down and put their heads on pikes all along Wall Street.

Almost seems he was custom made for this gig.

Weird.

In no way am I justifying this twerp.

However, I do think he is a sacrificial lamb. His mouth got him in trouble. The SEC started investigating him in 2012 well before the hoopla with raising drug prices. Did he do something wrong? Looks like it, but not nearly the scale of prosecution the SEC typically will go after.

I'm thinking someone was like "We have enough dirt on this guy and he won't shut his mouth and he is making the whole industry look bad... shut him up".

Keep in mind Democrat billionaire Jon Corzine did much worse with MF Global... I'm sure we will be seeing that prosecution go down any day now! Right.

Whether Republican or Democrat, we should all be frightened of a justice department and system that allows willy nilly political prosecutions (or lack of prosecutions).

a reply to: redhorse

I don't think so. Just look at our Afluenza boy on the run right now. This is more of a "hey I can be as egotistical as I want and there is nothing you can do about it." Greed has become a game in and of itself for people now. It is all about how much you can grab,how fast,and how cleanly you can get away with it. I believe he thought he was the cat's meow and couldn't be touched,HAHAHAHAHAHA. He got caught with his pants down,simple as that. Once in a blue moon you have some fool step up and try something like this.He was an amateur at it. Now the pros were the banksters back around 1900s.Those boys knew how to screw over the working class with class.And get away with it. Their families still profit from it.

a reply to: Dimithae

Honestly, you may be entirely correct. He just seems so... stereotypical, in such a theatrical way. It may be exactly what it looks like though, it really might. He could just be that out of touch and crazy.