I guess Luigi Mangione isn’t the hero of the working class

2 min readDec 11, 2024

(Christ, this one is going to generate a lot of hate mail.)

So anyway, yeah. Luigi Mangione is neither the hero of the working class, nor is he a working class hero. Up until he decided to assassinate UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, Mangione lived a life of privilege. Being poor wouldn’t excuse him from committing murder, but it would make his actions more understandable.

In the area of Maryland where the Mangione family hails from, they are synonymous with wealth. The Mangione family owns nursing home facilities all around Maryland and two country clubs in the Baltimore suburbs.

Luigi Mangione himself attended a posh private high school before attending the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school.

He probably never struggled in his life, until his 2022 surfing accident in Hawaii. According to some of Mangione’s friends, the surgery did not go well, and it left Mangione with three massive screws in his spine. Even after the surgery, the pain was so bad that it prevented him from having sex.

After this, Mangione cut himself off from his friends and family as he moved to Japan.

Some have said that Mangione held a grudge against Brian Thompson because of his interactions with the medical industry. This is where he loses me. Unless there’s something I’m missing, why point his ire at UnitedHealthcare and not the doctor or hospital that performed his surgery?

I can’t imagine him having medical debt with how affluent his family is. I can’t imagine he was forced to use a hospital that was in-network with UHC, again, because of his privilege. Due to his family’s affluence, I can’t imagine he had to deal with any of the insurance red tape that most of the working public has to deal with.

While Mangione was in physical pain and mentally unwell, I think he was seeking fame. If he shoots a doctor, or commits a mass shooting in a hospital, he’s a monster. If he kills a greedy CEO who’s under investigation by the DOJ for insider trading, he’s hailed as a hero. If he’s lucky, he may even get one of those ‘cool’ serial killer-like monikers from the media. I’ve already seen some refer to him as the Copay Killer.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t have empathy for Luigi Mangione, but he shouldn’t be celebrated either.

(Sources)

I guess Luigi Mangione isn’t the hero of the working class

Written by Trench Reynolds

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