If you think the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson is somehow justifiable because of his position in the insurance industry stop reading now. You won’t like this column.
Before December 4, I don’t know that I nor the vast majority of people in the US had ever heard or thought of Mr. Thompson. That was the day he was gunned down, shot in the back on a New York street by an anonymous man in a hoodie. Luigi Mangione has since need captured and charged after an Altoona, Pennsylvania McDonald’s employee recognized him from a news photo after an extensive and highly publicized manhunt.
I’m not surprised at the killing. People are murdered for no apparent reason every day. However, I have been shocked and surprised by the reaction to this killing.
Somehow this premeditated cowardly murder has been transformed by some into an act of social justice. Millionaire trust-fund baby Mangione, graduate of an expensive private school and an Ivy League college, is inexplicably touted as some sort of Robin Hood figure who struck back at the evil health insurance company, embodied by U of Iowa grad Thompson whose father worked at the local grain elevator, who denied him coverage for a back problem.
For what it’s worth, there’s no record Mangione was ever a customer of Mr. Thompson’s company.
The McDonald’s employee who called the cops has received death threats for turning him in. The Altoona Police Department has received similar threats for arresting murder suspect Mangione.
For whatever reason, Mangione is attracting fans. Some of them recently marched in New York wearing Mangione copy-cat hoodies. Others describe him as the "Hot Assassin."
A GiveSendGo effort to fund Luigi Mangione’s defense has raised more than $125,000 toward its $200,000 goal. “Free Luigi” merchandise is available through Etsy. Wanted posters for other healthcare executives are starting to appear.
Here's a quick sample of online comments:
“This man represents all of us!”
Mangione doesn’t represent me, nor does any other deluded back-shooter.
“He had it coming.” Because he was an insurance executive? Who else do you think has it coming?
There’s a word for the act of killing a person because of who they are or what they believe. That word is ‘lynching.’ If you tell me that killing Brian Thompson was in any way justifiable, what you are telling me is that you believe lynching is OK, just as long as the “right” people are being lynched. Tell me who you are. I’ll be sure never to turn my back again as long as you live.
And there’s this weaseling gem from a doctor: “I am torn. I have the devil whispering in one ear, telling me to join with the masses hailing the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and shouting that he had it coming to him. And I have the angel speaking in my other ear, reminding me that physicians must rise above violence and hate. A man is dead after all.”
I pray that I am never in a position where my life is in the hands of any physician who believes for a moment that murder in the street is in any way justifiable.
“Not only do I celebrate it I encourage more of it. I feel a sense of safety right now and that things are really going to start to change in America now.”
You know what makes me feel unsafe? The knowledge that there are seemingly normal people who condone political killing living in this country.
Former president Obama said it best. “You don’t like a particular policy or a particular president? Then argue for your position. Go out there and win an election. Push to change it. But don’t break it. Don’t break what our predecessors spent over two centuries building. That’s not being faithful to what this country’s about.
If you have to agonize over whether this premeditated murder is right or wrong, let me simplify it for you. It’s wrong. This shouldn’t be a difficult moral dilemma.
