The correct way to condemn Luigi Mangione

The Stammering Dunce
3 min readDec 17, 2024

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Also published on Wordpress.

It is simple: We can argue that no matter how much we (myself included) despise those greedy healthcare CEOs and find ourselves cathartically entertained by the cold-hearted internet memes, what Mangione did is still a murder; unless you can prove Brian Thompson was personally, explicitly and violently threatening him, it does not count as self-defence.

If we let him acquitted (assuming he is guilty, as some people believe he is innocent), it can lead to a dangerous slippery slope: the widespread condonation of vigilantism.

As feelgood as vigilantism is, it is far from perfect. Not only people can still be disproportionately or even wrongly punished, it is also a lot more violent and unpredictable. It can be as dangerous as corrupt law enforcement, if not more. Arguably, it can make our world even more unjust.

And that, dear readers, is how you condemn Luigi Mangione.

I condemn his action by pointing out the possibly dangerous slippery slope. But, I still acknowledge his grievances (assuming they are genuine/accurately reported) and other people’s as well.

Acknowledging the grievances means acknowledging the root of the problem. It is not the masses simply being heartless and bloodthirsty, it is about them flipping the table on the elites.

If you don’t want people to celebrate the murder, then you shouldn’t have let the anger to flourish in the first place. You should have strictly prohibited those corporations from leeching on the masses; even better, you should have supported the establishment of a universal healthcare system.

You can condemn the violence while condemning the thing that provokes it.

Of course, that’s not what is happening, is it? Many of you are unable to condemn Mangione without painting Thompson as an innocent individual.

Initially, I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt. It is possible you are one of those people who believe life is a very overtly-simplistic matter of good vs evil, no room for shades of grey. But, after some thoughts, I took that back.

Not only you paint Thompson as innocent, you take it even further by painting the entire US healthcare industry as a heroic and angelic entity which we must adore. Why? Because you have this twisted idea that a good healthcare system prioritises profits above everything else.

Which explains a lot.

It explains why you are not bothered that America’s life expectancy and infant mortality rates are lower and higher, respectively, compared to other developed nations.

It explains why you think there is nothing wrong about a country having an abundance of medical products which the average person cannot afford without insurances, akin to a country having a wide variety of foods and yet the people still starve because they cannot afford them.

And it definitely explains why you don’t see people who pay high premiums and getting little or nothing in return as victims of corporate exploitations, you see them as overtly-entitled spoiled Karens who deprive those rich corporate businesspeople the opportunity to become even richer.

Because, deep down, you love violence and cruelty, as long as they target the commoners instead of the ruling classes.

And that, dear readers, is the wrong way to condemn Luigi Mangione.

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The Stammering Dunce
The Stammering Dunce

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