Andrea Chalupa (whose former partner was Sarah Kendzior) has a podcast called Gaslit Nation. It should come as no surprise, it is a very liberal progressive show intent on saving democracy around the world. As the sole host now, Andrea is an experienced journalist and filmmaker. She and her many guests are knowledgable on world events and are historical content experts. She (and Sarah) have been spot on with what is happening not only in the U.S., but across the globe explaining how the billionaire class, oligarchs, authoritarians, and dictators are causing the downfall of democracy everywhere.
On a recent Gaslit Nation episode, she briefly discussed the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. At one point Andrea said the accused killer, Luigi Mangione, has become a folk hero. In looking up the definition, a folk hero can be real, fictional, or mythological, which of course, he is real in this context. The folk hero essentially becomes the topic of conversation across the spectrum of people. He or she is mentioned in pop culture, songs, stories, and such. This person is someone the everyday person can identify with, even when not condoning his or her actions.
I would not have thought of Mangione as a folk hero before listening to this podcast. He seems to be a middle class privileged straight white guy. He is from a family of means, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, has a Master of Science, was a bit of a gamer, and even worked at Stanford University. Nothing really out of the ordinary and seemed to have what would appear to most as a pretty nice life.
As with many of our fellow citizens, he suffered from back pain due to some sort of physical activity earlier in his life. It, at least at the moment, seems unclear as to his motive in that he did seem to have animosity towards the health care industry, but why isn’t fully known as yet. Oddly, the man he is accused of killing worked for a company in which Mangione had no claim against. Who knows what goes through the mind of a murderer in planning a murder?
What seems a surprise to the CEOs of health care companies specifically, and I would assume other extremely wealthy CEOs across the nation, is that anyone would be upset with them. Upset enough to kill them. I do not in any way condone or agree with anyone taking the life of another. However, I’m not sure how much of a leap it may be to somewhat understand why a person in daily pain with no end in sight, who may have been denied claims and healthcare, and possibly seeing a report where UnitedHealthcare is being accused of using artificial intelligence to deny health claims, to get to a point of being so fed up and irrational in how to handle that anger and frustration. Again, I fully believe what he did was wrong. And, I also fully believe denying claims to people in pain, people needing medication to live full lives, or those who may need experimental life-saving surgery is wrong. When any healthcare company does so after experiencing billions of dollars in profit, it is a reasonable argument, in denying life-saving medications and surgeries, might the company brass, and the company, be committing murder for the sake of profits?
It is interesting that when a person dies, their obituary states a cause of death. Often it is a natural passing as with old age, other times it is from cancer or other disease. What goes unstated as a societal norm is, were there mitigating factors? Did the person die of cancer because they were denied a claim for treatment? Did the person die because their young heart gave out because medication claims were denied? Did the person die because they’d reached their lifetime maximum and couldn’t afford continued care out of pocket?
I know, as much as we don’t want to think about, our loved ones die everyday from many natural reasons. I also know, as I’m sure you would agree, loved ones die everyday from unnatural or manmade reasons everyday too.
It is the unnatural and manmade reasons that concern me the most because these are often due to large companies denying claims, who dump toxic waste into our air and water, who don’t follow government regulations in protecting our food supplies, and more. Often they aren’t held accountable for their actions by anyone because of the amount of money they “donate” to politicians and other entities.
Although I would never have thought of Mangione as a folk hero, I now understand why he has become so. The memes, stories, and posts supporting him make sense. The increase in hoodies like his make sense. The dissing of the McDonald’s and the worker who turned him in makes sense. The marriage proposals and just plain offers of sex make sense. The fawning over his looks make sense. They make sense as long as viewed through a certain contextual lens. A lens in which a seemingly everyday person got the better of a rich person who directly or indirectly through their decision-making, most likely caused the deaths of many people through denial of claims.
My worry is that instead of CEOs, Boards, and politicians, changing their ways, they will double down on what they feel justified in doing in the name of greed and power. They will hire more people to protect them. They will build bunkers and safe rooms in their homes. They will continue the status quo as if nothing has, or should, change. In the meantime, there are thousands of people who may feel the same way as Mangione and begin making plans of their own. I worry about vigilantism and the unforeseen consequences of that course of action.
Should people act as judge, jury, and executioner of someone they feel have done them and thousands of others wrong? Absolutely not in no uncertain terms. We do have a judicial system, albeit very skewed towards the rich, who we hope will do the right thing. Taking another’s life through violence or denial of claims is wrong no matter how one looks at it.
And, I also understand that thinking.
My fear is many out there will do more than empathize with Mangione, they will emulate Mangione. Are we are on the cusp of having vigilantes who then become folk heroes?
If that happens, I truly believe none of us wins and everybody loses.
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 