The killer of the UHC CEO is apparently Luigi Mangione, although some people online have the idea that being caught with the weapon and fake ID of the shooter and carrying a three-page manifesto is a little too "on the nose". I don't know what to tell you, folks. The above scree cap is his Twitter profile--he definitely did not have that many followers this morning!
I said the other day:
I am a bit of a cynic at times, and we might find out that the killer is not actually a folk hero with a wronged loved one, bankrupted by medical bills or brought to an untimely end by denied claims. Some of the populist "death to the bloated ticks!" sentiment may be inauthentic (people do love a viral bandwagon).
The idea that a bright, promising young man was deranged by pain from a back surgery is appealing, but inapt. Many people experience pain and don't resort to violence. He deliberately chose a brutal, individualized solution to what could be potentially resolved by legal collective action based on the valorization of the man of action as a hero/martyr.
If he hoped through his actions to put the health care system on trial, the surprise is that he will be on trial for premeditated murder: full stop.
This isn't because as a society we prioritize the lives of wealthy healthcare CEOs. This is because the evidence points to premediated murder and that's just how the law works. He isn't a vigilante comparable to Kyle Rittenhouse or Daniel Penny: he got out of bed that morning and meant to kill a specific someone. The others may have been responsible for deaths, but their situations, whether I personally think they went beyond reasonable force or not, aren't parallel.
I think people also need to stop thinking in purely right or left terms for, well, everything. This guy does not seem to have been an ideological leftist. Neither would I term him "conservative". What I'm seeing is a hodge-podge of ideas that aren't necessarily coherent. I see a fascination with psychedelics. I see a person setting their own course of reading as trying to build a personal ideology.
(I will point out that "doing one's own research", like doing hallucinogens, is not for even a really bright person to try and sort out on their own--one needs a guide.)
As for the "thirst posts" about this young man's physique, physical fitness, like intellectual achievement, appear sto have been very important to this individual's sense of self-worth. An unresolved physical injury probably did influence him--but it simply is a personal reason, not a justification.
What he did is unlikely to affect the health insurance industry, either. A CEO here or there will just be part of the cost of doing business. Should they stop being sanguine now?
If people are concerned with reform, I would say they can take this moment and organize.
1 comment:
> He deliberately chose a brutal, individualized solution to what could be potentially resolved by legal collective action based on the valorization of the man of action as a hero/martyr.
Theoretically possible but seemingly unlikely in any of our lifetimes. Maybe this was just a fluke but I worry that we are fast approaching an era where the current civilized norms are replaced with one having violent solutions and counter-solutions though maybe we'll have a colour-revolution (e.g., Ukraine, etc) since most revolutions look good in history books but are pretty awful to try and survive.
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