Faulty Logic, Lies, Hypocrisy, Hatred, and Schadenfreude: The Toxic Stew Simmering in the Wake of Renee Good’s Murder

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The ICE murder of Renee Good in Minneapolis this week has served up a big batch of the toxic stew that this current administration is known for. No, the investigation is not wrapped up and, given our country’s history of letting agents of the state kill our fellow citizens simply by claiming they “feared for their lives,” I’m not confident that justice will ever be served. And yet, video clearly shows the ICE agent stealthily maneuvering into position in front of Good’s car—the position he will no doubt claim is such a dangerous and fearsome place to be—and then fire three rounds directly at her head and upper body.

A recording exists of an ICE agent referring to Good as a “fucking bitch” while she’s bleeding and dying. A witness who claimed to be a medical doctor also reports that he was kept from giving aid to Good during what turned out to be her final moments alive. Reportedly she died at a hospital after critical first aid was delayed. This absolute disregard for human life is utterly grotesque. And so it was that all the ingredients for the usual toxic stew were thrown into a pot and began to simmer.


Renee Good


Faulty Logic

“If you don’t obey law enforcement, you deserve to get shot.”

I’ve seen variations of this sentiment countless times on social media. Due process doesn’t seem to matter. That the punishment should fit the crime doesn’t seem to matter. All that matters is that someone was ordered to do something and they didn’t. Let their death penalty be promptly served.

This sentiment seems to spring forth from the common (fallacious) belief that we live in a just world. In this mythical just world, those who work hard are rewarded with material wellbeing. If you’re poor, it’s because you’re lazy or behave irresponsibly. In a just world, bad things don’t happen to good people. If something bad has happened to you, it’s because you did something wrong.


Lies

“She was a domestic terrorist.”

“She was trying to run him over.”

Within hours the lies began, some promulgated by those in the highest positions of our federal government. It doesn’t matter that the claims are patently absurd. It doesn’t matter that Good may not have even seen the shooter maneuver to the front of her car from the right because she was engaging with another officer reaching for her door on her left. It doesn’t matter that she veered to the right and away from the shooter once she finally saw where he’d positioned himself.


Hypocrisy

Our current POTUS pardoned all those who willfully caused injury, death, and destruction in the course of storming the Capitol building on January 6, 2021. It is preposterous for this administration to pretend that those adjudicated criminals were upstanding citizens while slapping the “domestic terrorist” label on an unarmed mother with her dog in the car partially blocking a neighborhood street.

But the hypocrisy is rooted more deeply than that. The woman who was killed breaking into the Capitol building is deemed by many to have wrongly been killed even as the killing of Renee Good is, in their minds, a case of “play stupid games, win stupid prizes.” It is truly maddening.


Hatred

“Fucking bitch.”

A woman is breathing her last breaths, but instead of a gasp of horror by those whose malfeasance caused it to happen, she’s dismissed as unworthy of even the slightest human concern. She’s not a dying mother, daughter, or partner. She’s not even a dying human. She’s just a “fucking bitch.” And, yes, in the minds of so many others of her fellow U.S. citizens, she’s from another tribe, someone not worth concerning themselves over. She’s just a “fucking bitch.” The inhumanity, contempt, and hatred are appalling.


Schadenfreude

“When are the ICE protests coming here? Asking for a friend.”

Schadenfreude, according to Merriam-Webster, is German for the “enjoyment obtained from seeing or hearing about the troubles of others.” Have we really become so cold and empty that nothing short of the deaths of our foes will give us pleasure?

May we be saved from this soul-destroying disease, this thirst for violence and bloodshed, this disregard for life that has become so casual as to have us wishing for more violence that we might be entertained. May we find something good and meaningful to fill this dark hole that exists inside us, a darkness that prompts us to find twisted pleasure in the suffering of others who may think differently. This is my prayer for our country as I taste this toxic stew.



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This post is in the Power, Practice, and Peace series.

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Copyright 2026 by Mark Robert Frank

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