A hashtag, #FreeLuigi, unexpectedly spread in recent days on social media, while t-shirts and sweatshirts with the same “slogan” were sold in large numbers – until they were removed – on the Amazon and Etsy platforms. One would hardly imagine that the Luigi Maggioneassassin of Brian Thompson, CEO of , the health insurance giant, would unite a portion of the world’s population under a massive
To give an idea of the extent of the hysteria, the Levis jacket worn by the “punisher” in the photos released after his arrest skyrocketed in sales.
Is the 26-year-old, who is accused of murder, a pure murderer of common criminal law, or a modern “Robin of the Woods”? The debate began when it was revealed that on the bullet casings of the Thompson assassination, on December 4 in Manhattan, Mangione “Denial”, “Delay” and “Postpone”. The killer argues that “those vermin deserved what they got” because “America has the most expensive health care system in the world, but ranks 42nd in life expectancy. Companies like UnitedHealthcare became so powerful, making huge profits through abuse, because the American people allowed it.”
In the eyes of Maggione’s supporters, the victim represents a company that has rejected 32 percent of claims for treatment, leading thousands of people to bankruptcy and death. After the COVID-19 crisis, the costs of health insurance premiums, drugs and health services in the US have skyrocketed and are not covered by insurance companies.
Perpetrator profile and supporters
Maggione, who was arrested five days after the murder, has nothing to do with the profile of the average gunman in the US because, apart from the “ideological manifesto” that accompanied the murder, he comes from a rich and well-known Maryland family (he is the grandson of a millionaire in real estate), graduated from one of Baltimore’s most expensive private schools, and after studying at the University of Pennsylvania, did master’s degrees in computer science. He is an avid book reader and has never been involved in any form of delinquency in the past.
Even his social media accounts were seemingly normal, with no trace of anger or radicalization. Despite his studies, he worked at a car rental company, and a possible turning point for his murder was the difficulties his mother faced in getting treatment for a serious health problem.
Maggione’s international appeal is impressive. It is reflected, among other things, in the success of the independent online fundraising, by a group that sets itself up as the “Legal Committee of December 4 Maggione” and had collected, until December 19, more than 157,000 dollars for his defense costs. The group also publishes comments from sponsors praising Maggione for “mobilizing” people against “evil, oppressive insurance companies.”
Among the comments written on the platform by anonymous donors, we read: “Not all heroes wear capes,” “How many people has the health system killed?” and “My mother was murdered by greed. He died of lung cancer because insurance didn’t cover the treatment. Keep your head up, young man.”
The expert’s counterargument and explanation
Of course, there is also the counterargument that is reflected, for example, in the popular post of the Democratic politician, Andrew Pritt: “If you think that Luigi Maggione is some kind of “hero” or “rebel” or a modern Robin Hood, then you are part of the problem. He’s a killer.”
“He is the realistic version of a modern-day punisher”
Why the frenzy for the 26-year-old killer, who receives daily messages of support and love confessions? “Luigi Maggione attracts crowds because he is the realistic version of a modern vigilante (punisher), like the fictional heroes of pop culture,” the political and corporate communication consultant, PhD candidate at the Department of Communication and Media of the University of Athens, explains to BIMA. Joseph Halavazis.
“The masses do not perceive him as a conventional terrorist who wanted to sow chaos in order to impose an ideology, but as a victim of a particularly cruel and unjust system from which many have suffered. This is what creates closeness, identification and familiarity with his person, despite the heinous act of executing another human being in cold blood.”
“The unconscious cinematic parallelism of his public reception is additionally strengthened by his good presentation, as we are “image societies”, continues Mr. Halabazis. “Luigi Maggione is the good-looking young man next door without any aesthetic radicalism or reflection of minority elements.” These “compose the archetype of the ‘anti-hero’, a form particularly familiar if we consider the profitability of several blockbusters based on the ‘cleansing of evil'”.
Maggione, the professor at New York’s Columbia University, sees two main causes as the basis of the case. Stathis Gourgouris. “First of all, in America the health care industry is one of the most brutal forms of gross exploitation and impoverishment of people. Hard for a European to understand. So American society as a whole, almost regardless of class differences, feels equally victimized. There is, in other words, the element of mass anger.”
“In the US the easiest way to express anger is to shoot”
In addition, “in the US approximately 50% of society carries a gun. The easiest way to express anger, infinitely easier and more feasible than protesting, is to shoot. Precisely because in a society of – supposedly – consent, access to mass resistance has been effectively canceled, you see cases of “lone riders” appearing. Something that I believe we will see more and more often in the future”, predicts the Columbia professor who believes that “we must seriously study where all this anger will be directed in the coming years, which will be years of social violence. And Trumpism is due to the same emotion (anger).
