Summary
Luigi Mangione, charged with the December 2024 murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, released his first public statement through a new website launched by his defense team.
He expressed gratitude for widespread support and acknowledged the letters he has received. The website provides case updates and a fundraiser, which has raised over $400,000.
Mangione has gained a following among those frustrated with the U.S. healthcare system. A poll found 41% of voters under 30 viewed the assassination as acceptable.
His next court date is Feb. 21.
A poll found 41% of voters under 30 viewed the assassination as acceptable.
Crazy how we can see numbers like this and then see other articles saying only “dark corners of the internet” support Luigi.
IDK if it’s the case here, but a poll that goes 40% yes 10% no 50% no answer usually gets reported as “40% yes” without context if they want to insinuate the no is in majority.
It’s the same as when Trump’s Greenland poll got reported as “80% no” without mentioning the 12% “no answer” and the 8% yes part.
Surprised it’s not higher actually.
People are saying that this is a low percentage, but I think it could be considered high. Murder (i.e. not necessarily killing a human in general) is classically and in general a really bad thing. Even if people don’t care for the parasitic company’s CEO and might be glad that he’s dead, I could imagine that their gut feeling would tell them to not consider an assassination acceptable.
Hmm, you say that but people cheer when villains are killed in movies. Brian Thompson killed tens of thousands of people and caused immense suffering to millions of people. In our darkest hour, when it looked like the oligarchs had won and were untouchable, Luigi took a stand against evil and gave us all hope. Luigi is a hero.
I mean, people from the dark corners of the internet are probably pretty good at finding polls about things they’re interested in, lol
to be clear, voters under 30 is what like 40% of all the voting public? So we’re talking like less than 10% of the voting populous, probably at most.
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The statement reads, “I am overwhelmed by—and grateful for—everyone who has written me to share their stories and express their support. Powerfully, this support has transcended political, racial, and even class divisions, as mail has flooded MDC from across the country, and around the globe. While it is impossible for me to reply to most letters, please know that I read every one that I receive. Thank you again to everyone who took the time to write. I look forward to hearing more in the future.”
If they lock him away he’ll be treated like a king and have fans inside.
No war but the class war, we need more upstanding people of good character and sound morals willing to take a stance for their fellow citizen like Luigi Mangione, a real modern day patriot.
People can’t just go around killing loved ones…
Except CEOs
not killing loved ones
exception is CEOs
You are repeating yourself
To be fair, there is probably at least one unloved person who isn’t a CEO.
For those who read the summary rather than the article, here is the website that Luigi’s defense team created: www.luigimangioneinfo.com
I wonder what the options were. I have really complicated feelings about this, ones I could not possibly boil down to simply acceptable or unacceptable. All I can say is that I do not feel bad about the CEO, and I think Mangione is overcharged because the powerful want to make an example of him, a warning to anyone else considering the same.
At the same time, there is a cost to murdering someone. And sometimes, you are okay paying it. Maybe you feel justified, maybe you do not. Maybe a lot of people think you are. But there is still a cost. The lesson to the powerful is simple: never make taking your life worth the price.
I agree somewhat, that ‘an eye for an eye’ is just awful. Violence begets violence. However, as the CEO was single-handedly responsible for the deaths of a whole bunch of people, the only way to stop him from doing more harm was to rid the world of him. There’s a line, and he crossed it. Society, and our justice system, would never have a trial for him, and would never sentence him for his crimes. Luigi was the one to force him to face judgement for his crimes against humanity, and as such I fully believe he should be set free as a result.
It’s kinda like Trump and Elon in my eyes. These two have done immeasurable harm and our justice system will never hold them accountable. To allow them to live is to allow them to continue perpetuating their crimes. Now, I’m not saying by any means that I would be the one to ‘do the deed’ as it were, but I sure as hell would look the other way if someone else did.
You make a thoughtful argument. If you haven’t already, I suggest reading up on jury nullification to add even more depth to the situation.
Murder is wrong, but it doesn’t have to be an endless cycle of violence if the jury agrees that the situation leading up to it was unjust to begin with.
And that is maybe an ideal outcome. Sometimes the right and necessary thing isn’t the legal thing. If you make that decision on your own, better hope to fuck most people agree. And, if they do, that’s the point of the fucking jury. You done good.
Yeah. I get it. I agree. My comment above is better than approve/disapprove but my feelings probably could extend to a manifesto level. Particularly given the low bar Mangione set for length. It’s certainly the case that the system is designed to make some people above the law. And when those people do bad things, your only recourse is to change the system (which could take decades and resources you simply don’t have) or go outside the system.
I guess I’m saying, I think Mangione has to pay a price for what he did—certainly not his life based on similar crimes, but I think it was a based decision.
My thoughts: Completely and utterly acceptable without hesitation and the only nuance here is that it’s a shame it didn’t become a trend. Not that I’d condone violence. I clearly don’t, I condemn the violence these rich fucks inflict upon society
If we had a justice system (one that actually uh, delivered justice), then letting the courts deal with the CEO(s) would be the correct thing to do. We absolutely don’t have such honorable courts and have little other recourse except this.
Luigi’s only crime was denying Brian Thompson due process. His crime was the same as that of a police officer that illegally searches someone’s car. Morally, that’s the level of offense of what Luigi did.
In a just world, Brian Thompson would have been charged, tried, convicted, and hanged for the thousands of people he killed. Make no mistake, he was a murderer. If there is a Hell below, he is burning there now. The number of people he killed make Osama Bin Ladin’s numbers look like amateur hour. Brian Thompson, in any justice system that endorses the death penalty, absolutely deserved to die. Luigi’s main crime was denying Thompson his day in court and the ability to face his accuser. But, then again, it’s not like we gave Osama his day in court either. We shot that like a dog and dumped his body in the ocean, and no one batted an eye. We all celebrated it, and no one wept for him being denied a fair trial. Osama never got his due process and day in court.
Osama … no one wept for him being denied a fair trial.
I did… Not so much for him personally, but for the number of high ranking CIA and other officials that might have been exposed along the way…
I understand it. You’re in good company. I just can’t be so cavalier about it. If everyone is running around playing Batman, it won’t only be criminals who suffer.
It’s only the extremely wealthy that can kill with impunity in our legal system. If someone shoots a relative of mine, I don’t need to go hunt them down and take care of them myself. For that type of crime, the justice system will try to hold them to account. It is only the crimes of the wealthy and powerful that are not punished by the law. Kill one person with a knife? Life in prison. Kill tens thousand with a pen? You’re a job creator.
I am not worried about a mass campaign of bloody violence unleashed upon the entire population. The kinds of grievances ordinary people have against one another can already be handled in the criminal and civil courts. It is only the crimes of murderers like Thompson that go unpunished. They are the only ones at risk in such a campaign.
To you, the evil is Thompson. To someone else, it’s Biden. Or Obama. Yeah we can just go full French Revolution and murder every single one of them, but that’s not a world I want to live in.
Sure, but conservatives are by n’ large, spineless cowards.
be the change, my friend
But there is still a cost.
Why though? By attaching an inherent moral cost to opposing the status quo you raise the bar necessary for resistance, which only benefits the powerful.
I didn’t read it as being necessarily a moral cost; rather, simply acknowledging that there is a cost of some kind, and that a particular person might find that cost worth paying.
I don’t think this raises the bar on resistance. It just clarifies where the bar actually is.
Exactly. If murdering someone costs my life, all the time I would otherwise have with my wife and kids, what history might think of me… that’s a big fucking cost. It shouldn’t be hard to make killing someone not worth that.
And yet…
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My original comment did not advocate violence. You just want to censor how people really feel on the matter and you’re afraid of that. Simple as that.
Eh, to be fair, I get it after looking through the modlog. The implication that you wish far more people were okay with an assassination and that there is no other recourse is absolutely advocating violence. Now, whether or not it’s acceptable to think that way is a whole other topic, but I don’t think it’s fair to say you weren’t at least speaking out in support of violence.
Because that’s the truth - there is literally NO recourse or peaceful option left. More people, would rather continue banging their heads against the wall and say “please stop being corrupt” to the ones who’re actively upheaving everyone’s lives and damaging them beyond repair.
Again, how the fuck can anyone sit there and say “…uh this is okay! Luigi is bad for what he did, but I’m totally okay with getting fucked”.
Regardless of how justified you, I, or anybody else is in thinking that, my one and only point is that it is advocating violence.
What percent think he did not assasinate him. I assume another 40% or so.
Soooo… if so many people here seem to think Luigi didn’t do it, then why is everyone rushing to his defense? Why all the memes? Why the aggressive defense of an “innocent man?”
If he didn’t do it, then aren’t you all just hero-worshiping some random dude, while the “real” shooter is still at large?
Let’s assume Luigi is innocent as a result of “jUsT LoOk aT tEh viDeO!”, then that means the focus would shift on finding who the actual shooter is. And considering how everyone around here seems to be pro-murder depending on who the victim happens to be, that would mean your hero-at-large would be at risk of getting discovered and arrested.
If Luigi is innocent, and you all want the identity of the “real” shooter to remain safely unknown, as one would think you should… maybe you’d be best served by having Luigi taking one for the team?
Just a thought.
How weird. It’s almost like Lemmy isn’t a single individual who can’t get their story straight, but rather a collective of different people who have different opinions, some of which contradict each other.
Just a thought
You forgot to complete this
The point is less about whether Mangione himself killed the CEO than schadenfreude at a protected class who keep thinking they’re better than the rest of us. I realise all sorts of other speculative discussions are going on about whom to point the finger at, but it’s more interesting to consider the implications of taking back power from the greedy and priveleged by force (especially when we’re cowed into thinking we’re powerless).
Shit logic is shit.
If Luigi is innocent
Something to mention here. Even if he didn’t shoot the guy, it is EXTREMELY unlikely that he is innocent. At a minimum, he’d’ve been working with the actual shooter. Since he had the fake id, and etc. assuming they weren’t plants.
What’s his website?
