Unless you have been living under a rock, you must have heard about Luigi Mangione. But who is it and why is he trending all over the internet? Well, the 26-year-old is the suspect in the fatal shooting of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare in New York City.
But how has the internet responded to this? Well, one section has made him the subject of their thirst trap. There are fan edits and countless tweets about the hotness of this person.
Another segment declared him a hero, calling him a vigilante and comparing him to a modern-day Robin Hood. This hero-worshipping of Luigi comes from the anger the American people have towards the policies of health insurance companies. The man who died was the CEO of one such company, UnitedHealthcare. In the USA, many health insurance companies have been the subject of public outrage because they deny or delay insurance in critical cases. The three-page manifesto found from Mangione condemned companies for profiting by ‘abusing’ the American public. Even the shells of the bullets had the words “deny defend depose” which is a homage to the book “Delay, Deny, Defend”, which criticizes these health insurance agencies in the USA. Luigi’s popularity increases day by day as the merchandise of ‘Free Luigi’ and “deny defend depose” the new rage over the internet. The above-mentioned book is now trending number 2 on Amazon, and you know the reason.
Luigi is the scion of a wealthy family. His grandfather was a successful real estate developer. According to reports, he was valedictorian of his elite Maryland prep school after which he went on to earn his undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania. Coming from money and success, however, Luigi has supposedly taken up the path to start a revolution against a corrupt system.
Amidst all the chaos, one particular food joint has come under public scrutiny, because they informed the police about Luigi. In return, the internet is now calling out the employees who gave the tip. In bashing that particular outlet in the Yelp reviews, things got to a point that Google took down the reviews.
Well, the public being infuriated with the health care and insurance system is understandable, especially in a country like the USA which spends billions of dollars on its defense budgets. This assassination has sparked serious debates about corporate greed, the lobbying between these insurance companies and the health care system, and the corruption that exists in the government to the private sector of health care. After years of losing their loved ones to the trivial compliances of these health insurance entities, the American public now has had enough. They are voicing their opinions against these seemingly ‘untouchable’ big corporates.
In times like these, this act by Luigi has made him a vigilante hero in a lot of American minds.