The whole story of Brian Thompson’s murder and Luigi Mangione’s arrest is a wild mix of personal drama, public frustration, and the internet doing what it does best—turning everything into a spectacle.
Here’s the deal: people don’t usually rally behind a murder suspect, but Mangione is a different case. Why? Because his alleged actions seem to tap into a much bigger issue—how fed up Americans are with the healthcare system. Thompson, as the CEO of a giant healthcare company, became a symbol of everything people hate about the industry: skyrocketing costs, confusing policies, and a sense of being squeezed dry. So, when Mangione came along with a manifesto that reportedly called out corporate greed, a lot of people saw him less as a criminal and more as a man standing up to “the system.”
Here’s where it gets even more complicated. Mangione isn’t your stereotypical villain. He’s a young, super-smart guy with Ivy League degrees and an impressive tech career. By all accounts, he had a bright future ahead of him. But life wasn’t all sunshine—he dealt with a serious back injury that not only caused him pain but reportedly hurt his personal life too. Add that to the stress and frustration he probably felt, and you’ve got a cocktail of emotions that might explain his actions (if he’s guilty, of course).
As soon as his name hit the news, the internet went into full detective mode. People dug up everything they could about him—old tweets, LinkedIn profiles, and even his Goodreads reviews. Turns out, he’s well-read and shared a lot of thoughtful takes online, which only made people more curious (and sympathetic). Social media, being social media, turned the whole thing into memes and jokes, with comments like, “Maybe national heroes should stick to Wendy’s instead of McDonald’s,” when talking about how he got caught.
Even comedians like Stephen Colbert couldn’t resist weighing in, with Colbert joking that “America is Horny for Alleged UHC Killer.” That might sound bizarre, but it sums up the weird mix of fascination and frustration people feel. Mangione isn’t just a guy accused of a crime—he’s become a symbol for all the pent-up anger people have about corporations running the show, especially in healthcare.