The rhetoric against the Healthcare Industry hardens as Luigi Mangione awaits trial

As Luigi Mangione awaits a trial for carrying a 3D-printed gun in Pennsylvania and a potential extradition to New York, the rhetoric against Healthcare Industry leaders hardens.

According to the Wall Street Journal, ‘wanted’ signs with the faces of industry leaders appeared around lower Manhattan. They hanged with the macabre suggestion they might be next.

NPR reported that a week after he was caught in a Pennsylvania McDonald's, a fundraiser for Mangione's defense has raised over $97,000.

The perpetrators' popularity has become a reckoning moment for the industry. In a New York Times op-ed, the CEO of United Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, admitted that the system is flawed.

Alex Goldenberg of the online threat tracking institute Network Contagion Research Institute told the newspaper that the social media discourse, unlike during other acts of public violence, is “mainstream.”

The BBC said that the institutional condolences for Mr. Thompson's death were met by angry online comments. According to the outlet, "thoughts and prior authorizations," as a play on "thoughts and prayers," was a common phrase.

Other online users were upset about the amount of resources the New York police invested in solving the crime, compared to other similar murders. "I guess some lives are worth more" a reader commented on a New York Times article.

According to ABC News, UnitedHealthcare's official Facebook page had to block the comments on a post memorializing Mr. Thompson after it was filled with laughing emojis.

Photo: UnitedHealth Group / Facebook

However, the online anger was not all insensitive jokes. Some people took the event as an opportunity to share how the insurance company denied them treatment, making it easier for others to undermine the violence of the act.

It was the mainstream nature of the anti-CEO rhetoric that helped turn 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, the killer, into a kind of 'folk hero,' the New York Times said, even before police identified him.

According to AP News, the perpetrator wrote the words "deny," "defend," and "depose" in the bullet casing of the 3D-printed weapon he used. The words resonated online.

The words, which could be a play on the title of a 2010 book about insurance companies, inspired songs and art. The New York Times reported that some gathered in the city for a costume contest with prizes.

Photo: Spotify / The Daily Digest

Immediately after the killing, jokes floated all around social media about people not collaborating with the police to protect the identity of the killer or delay the investigation.

Some went even further. According to the newspaper, the hostel where Mangione stayed, collaborating with police, received many negative reviews online. With some calling workers "narcs."

According to NBC, the growing community of online detectives that usually jump to help police after a violent incident like that decided to deny the authorities their help.

Derrick Crowe, from the social advocacy nonprofit People's Action Institute, was horrified by the insensitive comments. Still, he explained that anger with the industry was hidden, and the incident revealed it.