Luigi Mangione Is Not the Issue Here

Instead of worshiping him or stuffing him into an ideological box, let's focus on fixing the inhumane society that shaped him.

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Before Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old accused of assassinating United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, became a household name, his identity was one of the most speculated-about mysteries in recent memory. Known primarily for A) wearing a hood, B) having a backpack, and C) shooting a guy in cold blood in midtown Manhattan, Mangione became the perfect tabula rasa for a public eager to cast him in whichever light best corresponded to their personal belief system and political alignment. He was a sexy Robin Hood, lashing out on behalf of the downtrodden! He was a depraved murderer and a symptom of a society in decay! It all depended on who you asked.

Then they caught him at an Altoona, PA, McDonald’s, eating hashbrowns and generally not being particularly mysterious or dashing at all. “He just seemed like any other normal frat dude that you could see at a frat party,” one of Mangione’s old college pals told NBC in a perfect, if accidental, indictment of a major vector for violence in this country.

The arrest was quickly followed by a scramble from news outlets, internet sleuths, and various interested parties to dig up as much from Mangione’s past as possible, hoping to figure out just who he is, what’s his deal, and why exactly he murdered Thompson.

As it turns out, the answer appears to be both more complex and astonishingly simple, all at once. It’s also, in a fundamental way, completely beside the point.