Luigi Mangione, the alleged shooter of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has become a folk hero to some on social media. Posts have overlooked the fact that Mangione has been accused of killing a husband and father on a Manhattan street.
Since his arrest in Pennsylvania earlier this week, Luigi Mangione has been the subject of memes, which have lionized his physique and appearance. One viral post, which has already received millions of views, showed the late James Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano from the hit HBO series with the caption, “In this house, Luigi Mangione is a hero, end of story.”
A Digital Folk Hero
Mangione is far from the first accused criminal to earn such praise—and he isn’t the first questionable folk hero to go viral on social media. The American public has long been captivated by those who seemed to take on the system, even when they employed violence to do so.
“Pre-social-media cheered on the likes of Bonnie & Clyde, Belle Starr, and members of the James Gang as well as any other outlaw romanticized in the media. This was especially true so long as the perception was these criminals were doing battle against a system that is set up to favor the already favored. That the spoils of their battle weren’t distributed among the poor didn’t seem to interrupt the public adulation,” said Susan Campbell, distinguished lecturer in the Department of Communications, Film, and Media Studies at the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of New Haven.
“That they used weapons to do battle—as did the suspect in the insurance executive’s murder—was painted as balancing some cosmic scale somewhere,” Campbell continued.
Rooting For The Anti-Hero
The aforementioned memes featuring Tony Soprano are noteworthy, as the fictional New Jersey mob boss was hardly a heroic character—and it serves as a reminder that today’s pop culture is filled with anti-heroes that often do horrible things, yet are presented as otherwise entirely likable people.
The posts and memes on social media have put Mangione in a similar light, overlooking the very seriousness of the alleged crime, while seeming to justify the actions.
“It’s hard to interpret for every individual what these memes mean to them, but in general they seem to represent a frustration with perceived inequities in the healthcare system and to some extent a much broader discontent with growing wealth inequality,” said Dr. Cliff Lampe, professor of information and associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. “Of the memes I’ve seen, many seemed embedded more in a type of wry class consciousness.”
A Digital Uprising
Past real criminal folk heroes like those of the James-Younger Gang gained sympathy and notoriety because they robbed banks and railroads, whose owners were seen as the overclass of the era, much like today’s billionaire CEOs.
“Based on the rhetoric used in memes and other viral content related to the story, the social media response seems representative of a sporadic digital uprising,” suggested Dr. Julianna Kirschner, lecturer at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California.
“The online content that has received reasonable engagement tends to support Mangione and users’ perceptions of his motivation for the shooting,” Kirschner added. “Healthcare industry language has been reframed to address the story in many video and visual examples, such as ‘Sympathy is a preexisting condition.’ These sentiments suggest support for Mangione’s alleged act.”
Claims It Will Open A Dialog
There has also been a strong sentiment across social media that Thompson’s killing could spark a conversation about the costs of healthcare, yet, even if that is the case, it still overlooks that a man was gunned down in America’s largest city.
Denying much-needed insurance claims—as UnitedHealthcare has been accused by many of doing—was, and always will be wrong, explained Campbell.
“Shooting someone to death on the streets was and always will be wrong. As for the murder balancing out the insurance company’s actions, the world doesn’t work like that, and I’m not convinced we want to live in a world where justice is handed out like this,” she added. “Better to expend moral outrage against a fabulous wealthy insurance company through politics, through petition. It is always harder to change a culture’s trajectory this way, but does anyone really think the murder of one executive will make the captains of capitalism reexamine capitalism?”
Even if the killing of Thompson was to bring the costs of healthcare into the foreground of public debate, it shouldn’t be seen as what is required to do so. That is a point many on social media seem to be missing. The means don’t justify the end, even if the memes suggest otherwise.
“On social media, the debate is narrow based on the content that users already consume, with some contrasting viewpoints to stir the pot and keep users engaged. The echo chambers reinforce users’ individualized feeds, so they will see mostly content that supports their viewpoints on the Mangione case,” said Kirschner. “It is already evident that the echo chamber in support of Mangione’s perceived viewpoint is much larger than any other in this case.”
If It Bleeds…
The “pro-Mangione” posts have also received greater interaction than usual news stories on social media, in part because of the aforementioned echo chamber, but also because of the sensational nature. It is a reminder of the old TV newsroom saying “If it bleeds, it leads.” This may be even truer on the social platforms, where people are quick to engage in the sensational and spend more time on the platforms as a result.
“Social media engages with news stories differently than traditional news outlets. Regardless of truthfulness, content spreads rapidly in echo chambers, especially those as large as the pro-Mangione crowd,” Kirschner continued. “Clickbait and other engagement-dependent content thrive in these environments to keep users online and involved.”
As users move further away from traditional news media, social media platforms are increasingly becoming the chosen alternative. Social media allows the audience to not only read the story—they can report on it, offering their insight and opinion. That has included misinformation and even disinformation.
“This means users are getting a vastly different view of the world, depending on what the algorithm shows them,” warned Kirschner.
“Social media doesn’t really ‘cover’ stories in the same way mass media does,” added Lampe. “There’s no guiding hand. People are reacting to a story and a broader economic trend—though that reaction will shift in time.”
