Since Luigi Mangioni was arrested on Monday in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania police have photographed this guy like a dozen times. They keep releasing new mugshots or in-custody photos of him. Mangioni has now been charged with multiple crimes in Pennsylvania, including possession of an unlicensed firearm (he had a ghost gun on him when he was arrested) and forgery. Pennsylvania isn’t charging him with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson – it’s a New York crime, and NY authorities are trying to get Luigi extradited to New York. Luigi appeared in a Pennsylvania court on Tuesday and he shouted something to the media as he was being shoved inside the courthouse.
The man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO struggled with deputies and shouted while being led into court Tuesday as new details emerged about his possible motivation behind the ambush. In his first public words since a five-day search ended with his arrest at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, Luigi Nicholas Mangione emerged from a patrol car shouting about an “insult to the intelligence of the American people” while deputies pushed him inside a courthouse.
The 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family is fighting attempts to extradite him to New York so that he can face a murder charge in the Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson, who led the United States’ largest medical insurance company.
Mangione remained jailed in Pennsylvania, where he was initially charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. Manhattan prosecutors were beginning to take steps to bring Mangione to New York, but at a brief hearing Tuesday, defense lawyer Thomas Dickey said his client will not waive extradition and instead wants a hearing on the issue. Mangione was denied bail after prosecutors said he was too dangerous to be released.
He mostly stared straight ahead at the hearing, occasionally looking at papers, rocking in his chair or looking back at the gallery. At one point, he began to speak to respond to the court discussion but was quieted by his lawyer.
There’s psychological analysis needed for why Luigi Mangione has captured the American public’s imagination in this way. Partly, it’s because he is a good-looking guy, but it’s more than that. I haven’t seen anything like this in many years. People are really obsessed though, to the point where even outlets like the NY Times are doing deeper dives on Luigi’s motivations and the mystery of his life. A guy who came from enormous privilege, who had severe back problems for a few years, then disappeared for several months in 2023 because of back surgery, and came out of the experience a different person.
Luigi Mangione, the suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, yells to the press as he is taken into court for his extradition hearing:
“…completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people!” pic.twitter.com/wKymRxGvUW
— The Recount (@therecount) December 10, 2024
Photos courtesy of social media, Backgrid.
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- Los Angeles, CA – Luigi Mangione, 26, poses for his mugshot in a anti-suicide vest after being charged with the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York. Mangione has been arrested on suspicion of carrying out the shooting in Pennsylvania. Pictured: Luigi Mangione BACKGRID USA 9 DECEMBER 2024 BYLINE MUST READ: PA Department of Corrections / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Los Angeles, CA – Luigi Mangione, 26, poses for his latest mugshot after being charged with the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York. Mangione has been arrested on suspicion of carrying out the shooting in Pennsylvania. Pictured: Luigi Mangioni BACKGRID USA 10 DECEMBER 2024 BYLINE MUST READ: PA Department of Corrections / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Los Angeles, CA – Luigi Mangione poses for his first arrest photo after being found by cops at a McDonald’s restaurant in Pennsylvania. Mangione, arrested on suspicion of shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson to death in New York, was pictured at Altoona Police Department. Pictured: Luigi Mangione BACKGRID USA 10 DECEMBER 2024 BYLINE MUST READ: Altoona Police Department / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
He’s a Tucker Carlson bro who was injured and has suffered greatly from it. This seemed to be a turning point for him. But I don’t understand how someone who comes from wealth had issues with health insurance while under his parent’s insurance ESPECIALLY because his parents are exceedingly wealthy.
Something is weird here or he may just be insane.
I’ve never understood comments like this where people believe wealthy people don’t have problems or everything is resolved by throwing money at it. I don’t know the situation but maybe there was insurance or treatment issues.
@ThatGirlThere because the rich can pay for experimental treatments and private insurance. The rest of us will never have access to.
While I think Luigi’s problem has nothing to do with money or his family private wealth. From what I read they have more money than Brian Thompson.
I think this will come down to a mental illness diagnosed or undiagnosed. But he knew what he was doing was wrong. Since he went to great pains to plan and cover his tracks.
Killing a CEO will not fix the system. You kill one 10 more pop up with the same agenda. It’s wack-a-mole. And if people keep voting red who want nothing more than to rid the system of, SSI medicade and medicare. Things will jsut get worse. But that is there problem now. They voted for it.
And personally, I have had UHC insurance for decades through my employer. I have never been denied anything surgeries, medication the works. All approved and paid for.
@Flamingo, I also have UHC and have never been denied anything, but the costs have grown exponentially compared to what I was paying prior to two years ago. I was previously happy with UHC, but a few weeks ago I actually asked my husband if he downgraded our insurance because what we were paying out of pocket seemed so high, but he said he actually UPGRADED it. However, whereas I used to pay almost nothing for prescriptions, now I am having to pay $30 or $60 for scripts in the past year, for basic meds. One of the prescriptions that I picked up this past year was so high the pharmacist was shocked and even APOLOGETIC about how high it was (over $100) and said she didn’t know why my out of pocket cost would be so much for a basic medication. We had to pay over $7k out of pocket for our son’s ear tube surgery, which was shocking to me. My husband and I can easily afford these prescriptions and procedures but I often wonder how lower income families can afford them. Obviously Mangione’s family could also easily cover the costs of his medical issues, with or without insurance, but when you really get down to it, UHC makes the profits it does off denying claims or refusing to pay over a certain amount for claims – that’s it. It’s a dirty business at its core, and people truly suffer for it.
@flamingo
Anecdotal evidence is not evidence.
Dismissing the facts of what UHC has done and continues to do with its policies which are easily googled is disrespectful. Just because you haven’t had any issues (yet) doesn’t mean you won’t, or others haven’t.
@sass Anecdotal evidence is not evidence.
What then is character witness testimony, of which if this goes to trial, we’ll see a lot.
By the way, this entire thread is filled with personal accounts of interactions with UHC and other insurers. I don’t see you labeling them disrespectful.
Yeah, he wrote a whole thing about how even spending all this money on stuff didn’t help his pain or his mother’s chronic pain.
Who knows. Perhaps he met people in treatment who became important to him and were denied care.
I find it odd when people think their personal anecdotes multiplied is equal to data. It’s not. The UHC data is reprehensibly bad. Period.
He was not injured. He has a condition that caused him pain since childhood. The roommate, who is very generous with information about the guy, says that he wanted to try surfing, but the first lesson he took was so hard on his spine that he was bedridden for a week.
Cost is not the only issue when it comes to health insurance. It’s not uncommon for providers to require a patient to jump through all sorts of hoops and try half a dozen ineffective bullshit treatments before they’ll approve something that might actually work. People with chronic pain or other conditions are also often treated like hypochondriacs, or regarded with suspicion that they’re just seeking drugs. Speaking from personal experience, it’s incredibly stressful and disheartening, and combined with the isolation many young people with chronic conditions feel (because most people their age can’t relate), I can absolutely see how he may have snapped.
I knew a very wealthy person that needed neck surgery because of great pain, and the hospital wouldn’t book the surgery until her insurance approved the surgery. The surgeon was out of network, so insurance wouldn’t approve the hospital claims associated with the surgery without being able to approve the surgery itself. The policy had no out of network coverage (NY), so they couldn’t approve the surgery, therefore they couldn’t approve the hospital claims. So even though this person could pay for the surgery out-of-pocket, the hospital wouldn’t schedule it without insurance being resolved.
True about the insurance companies making people jump through a bunch of stupid hoops. My daughter had extreme eczema where her little arms were scratched to bleeding and discoloration. Blue Cross required she try multiple treatments for weeks before they would even consider the treatment prescribed by the doctor. Blue Cross STILL denied the treatment even after we appealed with the backing of her doctor. The prescribed drug cost over a thousand a month. Blue Cross didn’t give a crap. And by the way, we got the drug through another program, and it has literally changed her life!
Yep, just went through that with my hip replacement. The surgeon was going over everything with me & he said he didn’t see that there’d be a problem since I’d already tried physical therapy, had X-rays, consulted a rheumatologist, tried Tylenol (ha! totally ineffective on this kind of pain!), and so on. And he was right, there was no denial of anything associated with the surgery; but I kept thinking–what if I hadn’t tried all that stuff earlier? How much longer would they (bean-counters) have made me suffer prior to allowing the surgery? I was near the end of my rope with the pain, super depressed; constant, severe pain just wears you down in so many ways.
There are a lot people who pay for health insurance and still don’t get treatment because the insurance company denies them coverage.
Is he really a Tucker Carlson bro? He seems way too smart to believe anything Carlson says. I understand he had some right-wing views, but not full-on maga?
big fan of Tucker, Musk and all the douche bros. His goodreads list has all the red flag books (including Mein Kampf). His family also owns some conservative radio stations. I don’t think his problem is with unfettered capitalism or de-regulation, it seems to be specific to health insurance (he’s 26, I’m guess he was booted from his parents insurance and that may have been a factor)
Regarding whether he is a Tucker bro or not,….
I am unfamiliar with Goodreads. Is it simply a place where people recommend books to each other? Or did he opine that the Tucker/Musk/MAGA/Hitler worldview should be adopted? I think it’s important to distinguish. I haven’t read Mein Kampf, but a thorough understanding what led Hitler down that road could be useful identifying and countering all the Hitlers that come next.
“Tucker Carlson bro” because he RT’d him once 🫠
So many people in this forum have never met an apolitical Gen Zer and it shows.
That was a poorly coordinated effort from the police. A ten second walk from the car to the door should not have ended with him being rushed through the door with ten officers following. This is how inmates in custody get injured. Right now, too many details in this story don’t add up so I’m on the fence. However, I hope the media can avoid the temptation to focus on his looks.
My husband and I make very good money due to our professions and have very good health insurance. That said, I had breast cancer and treatment was very expensive and we were more than once denied coverage for certain parts of treatment (the denials would shock most people). I could be a billionaire and I wouldn’t want to pay what the insurance company asked me to pay on top of what I already pay them in a year. Also, this may shock you but I actually care about people who can’t afford medical care they need because insurance companies have screwed them over. I don’t know this guy from Adam so can’t speak to his real motivation but I wouldn’t assume his wealth makes him completely detached from the reality that is the health care system in this country.
Marigold, I think the reason there are people who are making him into a ‘hero’ is because the health insurance industry doesn’t care if someone needs surgery, prescriptions, etc. (as you have discovered), they only care about their profits and dividends to their stockholders.
The health care industry and health insurance industry have reached a crisis point. THAT is why people are reacting the way they are. Things need to be fixed. If the executives won’t fix it, the people will be very vocal. I don’t look for this issue to go away. It shouldn’t disappear, it should be addressed.
I don’t believe in violence as a way to make changes. I also don’t believe in letting someone die in order to make a dollar. The insurance companies had better start looking at what they’re doing. People want change.
Sorry this replied to you. Meant it to be a reply to the comment above yours.
I think this guy wanted to be caught. For sure for sure. I have to say I’m enjoying the media’s shock over how the US public is responding to this. It shows me the extent to which the media are just corporate PR shills and are no longer the Fourth Estate, The US loves this kind of story–handsome lone wolf going against the system (I’m so glad he’s white and privileged). We’re watching a movie in real time. This guy has chosen to make himself a martyr–I get a sense of the narcissistic vanity often seen in privileged white men who expect the world to revolve around them and are shocked! shocked! when it doesn’t. I don’t know if he has realized how deeply he’s screwed himself over–he seems like a young guy who’s caught up in living the movie of his life and can’t fathom life behind bars.
It’s wildly ironic to me that this situation has united the country, considering how so many people voted to hasten the inequality that’s destroying the fabric of our society. He’s brought attention to the fact that all Americans outside the wealthiest are one medical catastrophe away from financial ruin, and the health care industry exists to enrich itself at the expense of our health and well being. How many millions have died from being denied care?
I’m out of fucks to give after the election. I’m not sticking my neck out for anyone and I have relegated myself to observing from the sidelines. I am glad the CEOs are sleeping less peacefully at night, and the BCBS realized that putting time limits on anesthia is not only ridiculously unwise, but a spectacularly bad take in light of the current situation (perhaps the Kensington Palace 3 headless chickens in a trenchcoat PR team has been advising BCBS! ).
I’m going to get some popcorn. The trial of this kid is going to be a circus. He really is the perfect figure to be the face of the opposition to corporate humanicide. What actor will play him in the inevitable movie?
I’m with you. I could not have said it better myself. Especially the fact that the powers that be that go around denying people life saving surgeries are sleeping less peacefully. Yes, that part!
This is for all those that have passed because these people don’t give a…
Lol! the media is just so out of touch. They should be interviewing the victims of the healthcare system. Not trying to act incredulous like they don’t know what’s going on.
I saw a TikTok joking that Tim Chalamet and Jacob Eliordi are probably off somewhere fighting to play Luigi in the Netflix movie.
Dave Franco is maybe a little too old but has the eyebrows to play Luigi.
Although he’s way too old, Marc Consuelos looks a LOT like him (certainly did when he was younger, on All My Children). He does have a son (his eldest) who is a clone of him; perhaps *he* is interested in repo-acting, too lol
Plans a murder, executes that murder, attempts to cover it up, engraves bullets with messages, wants to capture media’s attention, now fighting extradition for that murder.
Make it make sense.
I don’t know about “attempts to cover it up.” He left the city. Was he supposed to stick around? Also don’t know about “wants to capture media’s attention.” By shouting something once?
The rest can be explained by 1.) debilitating pain, 2.) schizophrenia, and 3.) lawyers.
I don’t think he expected to succeed and escape with his life.
When did the “cover attempt” start? Was it before he went to Starbucks or after he went to McDonald’s? lol
Yeah what a criminal
Mastermind walking around with the gun that he used and a manifesto in his backpack.
The fascination with him is more than just looks, as a lot of people are actually rooting for him. The continuing trend of anti-celeb culture has created resentment of the very wealthy, especially the wealthy who seem ruthless/heartless. I saw an interview where a guy on the streets of NY said; “Luigi took a life but how many lives did the CEO take? One used a gun and one used a briefcase.”
I feel like the psychological elements have also got to be tied to the general mood of the Trump era. Frustration that Trump is allowed to get away with everything has also been a huge cloud over the national psyche. I know this incident seems to cross party lines but I just can’t shake the fact that at least some people are using this as an outlet for their frustration not just with corporate malfeasance but with Trump, too.
It seems like a lot of corporate interests are treating the discussions about insurance in the United States as fruit of the poisonous tree. I strongly condemn violence and murder, but I also think the discussion about how broken our system is should continue.
It is a crisis of epic proportions when nearly every family has an insurance horror story. It is too big of a percentage of the US economy to be this problematic, debilitating, and deadly.
This would all be so different if he was a poor black man.
So true.
Say it louder for the people in the back. So much so that I was actually praying it was NOT a black man, because he would’ve been eviscerated in the media and people would be asking what HE had done to be denied coverage.
When this first occurred, it was stated by reporters (or should I call them parent-company-parrots?) that he was “light skinned, or possibly hispanic”. meaning a light skinned POC. NO mention that he could even *possibly* be white. Racists as f*ck from the gate.
He also could have been an undocumented migrant. A trans man. Homeless Democrat. What does it matter?
Your comment shows exactly why it matters–the only person people would be “rooting” for in this situation is a white cis man. Thanks for playing.
@mimi your point was obvious, so obvious in fact I don’t see the purpose in interjecting a ‘what if’ scenario when what makes Luigi Mangione a hero/anti-hero is transparent. He’s a white male who comes from wealth and for the moment is seen as attractive. I’m too mature to play your fishing games but have fun.
@Mimi, thank goodness Italians are White, now.
I’ve been wondering why they needed to take so many pictures of him. One at the police station and one at prison intake should suffice, no?
And of course, the Fail is at it again trying their best to humiliate him with his huge “sex secret”. Which is nothing more than him having a very severe spine issue which made it hard for him to date at all. He’s been in pain since childhood. From what I gather the surgery was in 2023 and he said to friends that he did think it helped somewhat. His disappearance was in the last six months, I think.
The roommate insists he was not on pain meds, but I don’t believe that. His condition induces pain by the vertebrae pushing on the nerves when they slip out of place. I had nerve pain from sciatica and it’s excruciating. I was pregnant when it started and I couldn’t take meds. I was not able to stay unsupervised with my toddler, because she would see me suddenly freezing in place silent screaming in tears. My problem could be helped after pregnancy, and I can keep it at bay without meds, but I can’t imagine a life where it won’t go away.
He also started experiencing periodic numbness, which must have been scary as fcuk. He is going to suffer so hard in prison.
I feel so sorry for him. As soon as the info was available about his health and botched back surgery.
The pain must be horrible. Combined with probably strong painkillers that will make everyone go crazy in no time.
I think he did it but the “why” will be not easy to really get behind. If he is on heavy painkillers or drugs, he will be probably not be of sound mind.
Fuck it. He’s a hero.
Yup! that part
I have one reason. People think the medical insurance industry is evil and they see what Luigi did as vigilante justice.
ITA, but as someone pointed out yesterday, it could still bring tons of attention to the denied claims issue.
I wonder if NY is going to have a tough time finding an unbiased jury. It was reported that this guys attorney is being flooded with calls to help pay for his legal expenses.
As a chronic pain sufferer, I am aware that his case is being carefully followed by the chronic pain community. Many of us have suffered at the hands of health insurance companies who ripped us from medications or treatments that were helpful. Many of us are, or have been suicidal. Chronic pain changes who you are, and consumes your entire life. I myself have poorly managed chronic pain, with which I wake up and go to bed every day. It prevents me from talking, from enjoying a breeze or sun on my face, going for a walk. It is killing me that my child has to look at me in pain, that it is his reality to watch his mother suffer day in and out. Honestly, if it weren’t for him I wouldn’t be here. It is simple as that. I have thought of ending my life many times. People in the chronic pain community understand that a young man in severe pain who is without his own family or a child may have felt he had nothing to lose.
I know it’s not a solace, and it’s not meant to be one, but even in Germany with public healthcare we have enormous issues with people in severe chronic pain. There are many doctors who deny opiates or medical cannabis.
It’s just that our western medical system often denies help and a solution when they can’t fix the patient quickly.
Have a hug and I hope there is hope for you and some miracle for getting better somehow.
My husband suffers from chronic back pain, similar to Luigi; a condition he’s had since childhood, also with a botched surgery that made it worse. He tells me on his worst days that he doesn’t care if he lives or dies. I’m so sorry you’re going through this, too.
Fellow Italian here. Luigi is a HERO. He also has lyme disease. So do I. It’s caused me a ton of pain, problems, expenses, and left me unable to work currently. Many people with italian ancestry have something called HLA genes, which predisposes us to autoimmune diseases, via a complex interaction of genetic, environmental, and epigenetic factors coupled with infections and molecular mimicry and the inability to make antibodies to and process bio toxins.
Only maybe…24% or less of the population has the above issues/genes. Yet we’re treated like the other 76% and are told everything is ” in our heads.” Nope. So most of the population isn’t susceptible to autoimmunity or having MASSIVE lifelong issues from lyme. How does our government and healthcare system respond to knowing this fact? Basically a campaign of eugenics, silencing people, refusing to treat a very real illness, trying to route people into being treated for autoimmunity caused by lyme, wanting us to take expensive biologics that don’t really help or treat the root cause. I can tell you FOR SURE Luigi can’t tolerate the metal they put in his spine. That’s so dumb they do this, again to all people knowing a small percentage of us can’t tolerate implants of any kind but especially metal. Amalgams are the same. They’re not safe for everyone, my sister now has chronic jawbone infections with crazy biofilms, and is suffering from ovarian failure in her 30’s from all the metal they put into her body.
And it’s triggered mitochondrial issues. Same with me, I have CFS now from lyme and from the stupid covid vaccine and yep I said what I said. If you don’t have the genes do not judge people or assume they’re anti science. They’re in pain, they’re not well physically and they know why. We see everyone tolerate metal implants, and get better from lyme, and get boosted every couple months GOOD FOR YOU! Please continue to get vaccinated to protect people. Some people are just dumb and don’t want vaccines because of weird non logical reasons or freedoms. When it instantly inflames your brain, I’m talking needing to wrap a giant ice pack around your head, short term memory loss, causes a cytosine storm and you bulge out 3 discs instantly within 48 hours of a vaccine, doing absolutely nothing, then you can judge me maybe. And was it the vaccine? Or the fact that the vaccine sets conditions that allows the lyme to reactivate and proliferate? It’s complicated.
Lyme isn’t taken seriously in this country. It took me 15 years to get diagnosed. All my tests wee negative despite all my doctors saying over and over “your symptoms sound/look like lyme.” They could have diagnosed me and treated me based on symptoms but no one would. No one would help me. They watched me get worse and worse with amazing insurance! mind you. I finally found an LLMD who takes our insurance who ordered the right tests, she tested for a european strain of lyme the CDC doesn’t test for, and bingo. My western blot was lit up like a christmas tree. Only problem? now it’s in m brain and oh i accidentally gave it to my kids when I was pregnant with them and now they’re screwed too. Can you imagine any other disease, like in America, being treated like I, and tens of thousands of people who have stories exactly like mine? Where the CDC is denying fetal maternal transmission is real or likely or prevalent? But here all of us are…So then you give it to your kid and then they have it their whole entire lives because if it’s not caught exactly when you get it, it’s a learn to live with it type of situation? and mind you i have girls, meaning I hav now compromised any future generations of my family because the CDC is corrupt and literally negligent? So like I said there’s 10’s of thousands of us, as evidenced on facebook groups for this type of thing, and usually our kids end up with lyme and a neuroautoimmune disease called pans, which yes my children have (BTW the only testament for pans is IVIG which our insurance company will not cover hahahahaha). Now imagine these kids are growing up, mad that they have a debilitating chronic disease they can’t get rid of that’s poorly managed that inflames their brain chronically. Because that’s exactly what happened. My kids don’t have access to guns but a lot of these kids will eventually i imagine. I don’t condone violence but I’m surprised this hasn’t happened sooner.
You don’t condone violence and yet you brand a murderer a hero. Your viewpoint of a dystopian future populated by armed and angry sickly people is concerning.
The way he didn’t try to hide afterwards, the look of his eyes in every post-arrest photo, the random shouting on that perp walk, the stark fact that he disappeared from friends and family months ago…this man is not mentally well. I hope he gets some help. I hope people realize he is not our savior, no matter how much we have all been screwed by the health insurance industry. This guy is not going to be our voice. He needs help, not adulation. If that manifesto ever sees the light of day, I would bet it will have very familiar syntax to folks who have interacted with those struggling with more serious psychological conditions.
Yes, I have been thinking about this a lot, too. I have kids his age…it can be a particularly difficult age as you are now full on adulting, which can big a big adjustment for people like him who were star students for their lives up until then. His fixation on the book “The Anxious Generation” is also a red flag, and seems to indicate he was aware he was struggling but just didn’t have a support system in place to help him. I know we have no clue about his family dynamics but I can’t quite reconcile why his mom only filed a missing persons report in late November when he had been off the radar for much longer.
My husband comes from a huge East-Coast, traditional Italian-American family rife with Trump supporters (he himself is not one). Getting help is not something these people do, culturally, and whenever a family member seems to be struggling and not living up to the successes and image of the rest of the family, they seem to think the answer is “ignore it.” Not to generalize, but I’m generalizing.
It’s wild to me that they have to seek extradition within the same country. If someone were in Devon, but committed a crime in Yorkshire, it wouldn’t be an issue.
Hopefully it will be when Scotland finally claws away from the engerland beast.
Basically he committed crimes in New York state, but was arrested in Pennsylvania state. Each state has it’s own criminal justice system. So, he has to be extradited to New York from whatever state he’s arrested in.
People were cheering this guy before the photos came out. He would be a folk hero even if he was ugly.
Gov Shapiro said,
“In some dark corners, this killer is being hailed as a hero.”
Dark corners? More like every illuminated corner of the internet. Chastising people to not root for him doesn’t change the way they naturally feel. I agree he is not psychologically well and needs help. And the fact is a great many of us are rooting for him to get that help and find his way out of this dark hole into which he has fallen. People were rooting for him before photos were released, and even though he’s from a wealthy family, his chronic pain backstory and reported general humility has made him all the more compelling.
Also, I read that he said “it’s unjust” not, “it’s out of touch.” I agree with him that it’s not a boon to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society, and I bet a lot of other people share the same sentiment.
I have sympathy for his pain and am glad he was stopped. Red flags showing he might have been on his way to repeat are not ditching the gun, fake IDs, and carrying a gobsmacking amount of cash. He obviously needed help, which he didn’t get.
That said, I know people who’ve had difficulty with the US health system, and it isn’t remotely okay what they went through. The media needs to show some empathy for this guy, because the more people hear politicians and various news organizations slam this guy, the more regular people feel unseen, misunderstood, and like the Brian Thompsons of the world are granted a huge pass. People have gotten sicker, felt stressed, died and/or had poorer outcomes–why does that seem so difficult for so many pundits to acknowledge? There’s a reason Luigi, who clearly has issues beyond murder, is being seen as a hero and resonates with so many!
I think that he has captured the American imagination more than anything has in a long time. Beyond some jokes on social media about his looks. Like the message he put on the shell casings. It just felt cool.
And across both sides, R and D, people are supporting him! I saw an article about ben shapiro and walsh, both r-wing talking heads bashing ‘leftists’ who support this, and the comments were totally against their commentary. Those talking heads are super rich too.
Who cares if Luigi was a tech bro who likes Thiel and Musk and Steve-o. We don’t have to hate everything that someone we disagree with likes.
I hope we don’t get bored of his story.
I love that he shouted a message before being pushed into the courthouse.
It just feels real.
He’s getting traction because Your goverment oligarch policy is killing people for profit denying them medical help. What is the reason for forming a society if You leave people dying when You have means to help them?
And stop with this privilege nonsense. Privliege doesn’t automatically deprive You from empathy.
You Americans are on the verge of civil war and I’m surprised the media don’t see this.
THIS.
I worked at UHC in the prior auth department and the lengths that they made go to get their scripts was WILD. I can’t imagine what it’s like now.
He’s mentally ill. My older brother had an episode in his mid 20’s when he was drinking, reading espionage and generally out of touch with reality & going down rabbit holes.
The armchair diagnoses are infuriating. Not every person who commits a crime is mentally ill and upholding this unproven narrative further stigmatizes people with mental illness, who are far more likely to be victims of violent crimes rather than perpetrators.
Humans are passionate, complex beings who sometimes fall prey to their worst impulses. That does NOT mean they are mentally ill FFS and if you are not this man’s doctor you have no business diagnosing him. Beyond vile.
Not sure why the media is surprised this story would be fascinating to people. It was obvious this story would blow up big time…
Why aren’t you covering the Gisele Pelicot trial?