A Boring Dystopia

I think there are two primary reasons for the difference in treatment of these two killings

1. The killing of the CEO was meant to be a message to the country. It's a different scale. Because something like this is such a spectacle, it gets national attention and the local and federal authorities are forced to deal with it quickly- otherwise they lose face.

2. Ultimately the power structure cannot tolerate these types of rebellions. It's like a slave talking back to the master. You allow it once and you open the door for it to happen again. You have to try and shut it down as quickly as possible.

This is not a juxtaposition at all. Terrible ethics aside, the CEO operated more or less totally in compliance with USA law. Being a fucking scumbag is not illegal -- indeed, our country sadly runs on this principle.

The fellow in the subway was acting to a DIRECT threat, and it's pretty easy to draw a line from that guy flipping out to someone being threatened/hurt/killed in the subway. He was already culpable of disorderly conduct or worse, and it's pretty clear that it wasn't Penny's intent to fatally injure him.

The juxtaposition some people feel is because the CEO is acting against their moral framework, but he's operating in a legal framework. This is why our country is fucking sick, but it is is what it is at this point.