Luigi Mangione and the CEO killing: Young people 'numb' to political violence
The News Agents discuss the killing of healthcare CEO Brian Thompson,the arrest of Luigi Mangione, and how social media accelerated the story due to society’s lust for shareable content.
Listen to this article
Read time: 4 mins
In brief…
- The CEO of a major US healthcare insurer was shot dead outside a New York hotel, and a 26-year-old has been charged with his murder.
- He was arrested with a large quantity of evidence, leading The New Agents to question whether he was hoping for a jury nullification if he goes to trial.
- The story has become a social media obsession, driving our need to share content with friends, but has it also sparked a conversation about the US healthcare system?
What’s the story?
Rarely is a murder suspect the subject of hero-worship, but the online world has become obsessed with Luigi Mangione, who has been charged with killing UnitedHealth Group CEO Brian Thompson in New York City.
Thompson was shot and killed outside a Manhattan hotel on 4 December, and was visitng the city for a UnitedHealth investors meeting.
Claims have been made against the company that it rejects one in three claims submitted from customers, which it denies.
In a 'manifesto' shared online, Mangione says UnitedHealth refused to cover treatment for his mother's chronic pain, and that he too was suffering from pain, believed to be linked to a back injury.
Was his arrest part of a jury nullification strategy?
Mangione was arrested in a McDonald's restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania on Monday, 9 December, after being recognised by an employee in the outlet.
When the police picked him up, he was carrying the same weapon and silencer he is believed to have used in the Brian Thompson killing.
Emily suggests that, having seemingly planned every detail of the killing, right down to writing "delay", "deny" and "depose" on bullet casings found at the scene of the crime, it seems unusual to be apprehended so easily, and with so much evidence.
She suggests this could be part of a strategy to get a future jury to nullify his case in a potential trial – which can happen if a jury thinks the person on trial is guilty, but that the law is too strict.
"There's two ways of looking at it – either he was expecting to do something again, there was another health professional that he was going to go after.
"Or else, he was expecting to be caught, and he realises that the noise that he makes between the crime and the arrest is part of what they call in the US jury nullification strategy."
Emily says he may already be working to get a jury "on side".
"You can start to set your own narrative, to tell your narrative. You explain what you've done, why you've done it."
She says the aim could be to convince people that his reasons for allegedly killing the CEO, as outlined in his manifesto, were in the public interest.
How social media has 'accelerated' the story
Since the shooting, interest has been focused on the 26-year-old surfer accused of the killing, rather than the victim of the crime, with people unearthing his reading habits and shirtless photos.
"There is a reaction – which I think is understandable – on Tiktok and elsewhere, of some people saying they don't sympathise with violence, but this is an opportunity to talk a little bit about the unbelievable avarice and greed that the American healthcare insurance system relies upon," says Lewis,
He says social media has been flooded with people sharing their own "horror stories" of trying to navigate the US healthcare insurance system. He also adds that young people have been "numbed" and "desensitised" to the growing political violence they see online.
"I think you also see a hunger for content. Everything becomes content. Everything in the media world that we're living in becomes just a WhatsApp link that you can send to your friends.
"There has been a desensitisation to political violence, and this guy is just taking it to the next level.”
He adds that social media makes this sort of information "like an assault on the senses", and leaves people without a moment to process what they are seeing.
"Then you add even the porn element. What's the most common reaction online? 'Oh, he's really hot. He's unbelievably hot. Here's all the things I would love to see him do to me'.
"I think if he had been a 50-year-old fat guy, what would the reaction have been?"
Emily says we have always been "very forgiving of attractive members of society".
Empathy for Luigi Mangione has been seen on both sides of the political divide. This was evident when far-right commentator Ben Shapiro posted a video on YouTube, condemning the “evil revolutionary left” for celebrating murder.
His comments were flooded by fans and followers telling him that on this issue, both the left and the right were united – mostly in support of Magione’s actions.
“Surely the one thing that we can all agree on, is that first degree murder, broadly speaking, is not a good thing,” says Jon.