Chiseled jawline, defined six pack, adorable eyes; the perfect boyfriend, and the perfect suspect for the killing of Brian Thompson, a father of two and the CEO of United Healthcare Group. The recent murder of Brian Thompson and the capture of suspect Luigi Mangione has sent Americans into a frenetic scramble to find the picture-perfect angle on the developing situation. The entire thing is a battleground; a TikTok battleground, as it was.
Many people have argued that Mangione’s crime was justified. Anyone that’s been on social media in the past few weeks has seen the relentless streams of feed from his supporters making GRWM’s (Get-Ready-With-Me’s), finding his “fit” online, thirsting over his boyish good looks in paragraphs of depravity. They cite his Ivy-League legacy and Goodreads history as evidence of someone “smart enough” to not make a decision in haste.
The flip side of it, however, is that his story is truly touching to the hearts of many. The American healthcare system is ranked last amongst the ten highest income countries. Many people have had their cases delayed, denied, and disposed of. United Healthcare in particular has been responsible for an AI initiative that has made many mistakes in people’s cases, leaving some without insurance for expensive surgeries. What is one death for thousands?
Unfortunately, that nuance is greatly lost in the overwhelming glorification of Mangione on the Internet. This is what angers those against the killing the most. The veneration of handsome killers is a known fact of true crime and many people frown upon the idea of gun violence being used to solve a problem. Protests, they say, are more effective. But if protests were more effective, shouldn’t we be doing them? We’re trapped in a system that doesn’t serve us. Being silent and sullen won’t change anything. It’s a perfect Catch-22.
A Catch-22 is a logic paradox where there is no winning. Do you support the shooter because you’re concerned about the state of healthcare in America? If so, you’re supporting a killer who took away a father, a husband, a brother. But if you don’t support the shooter, you’re missing the point. You’re undermining those hurt by the healthcare system and supporting a man who was the face of it.
Luckily, your opinion most likely won’t matter in the long run. The American healthcare system has been sub-par since forever. Shooting a CEO won’t do anything but get keyboard warriors ready for battle. That’s where protests are fought, now, on the Internet. This issue is currently taking place primarily in an online world, and most of the repercussions from Mangione’s supporters have been virtual. Maybe thirty years ago, supporters of Mangione’s would show up to that McDonald’s he was captured in with raised voices and bold signs; today, the restaurant is simply review bombed. The Internet is a fast moving entity that won’t stop for anyone. Mangione’s crime will be forgotten in the next couple months, another one of those thousand incidents that happened but never mattered. In the end, this situation is nothing but sad. A young man may lose his life, a family has lost their father, and America is just as before.
