It doesn’t mean anything

On December 4th, 2024, Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, was shot and killed. After a brief hunt, officials have charged Luigi Mangione with the murder. Since the murder, and the arrest, the internet has been notably celebratory about the murder, with even some people who vote Republican apparently cheering it on. Aside from whether or not murder is a bad thing to do, there has been much speculation about what this means for healthcare, for income inequality, for everything ailing the American middle and working class. I don’t mean to be a bummer, but it doesn’t mean anything.

The whole event has simply been a giant Rorschach test for America. By that I mean, everyone looking at it has their own interpretation of what this means, what the implications are for America going forward. The implications are: 1 guy is dead and 1 guy is going to jail, the end. Much like a Rorschach test, whatever your interpretation is, the actual meaning is nothing, and your assessment says more about you than the meaningless thing you’re looking at.

Take for example, before the arrest, many had speculated this was a “professional job”. This silly fantasy about hitmen and assassins for hire turned out to be false. This was not in fact a “Michael Clayton” situation or a “Rambo” situation. Nobody landed in Luigi’s backyard in a helicopter to coax him into ‘one last job.’ This was not a poorly written political thriller. He turned out to be just some guy. But people projected, with a laughable amount of confidence, that this was the work of a ninja assassin.

On the other hand, you had tons of speculation about how this would be some left wing statement. That this was the work of a loyal Bernie Bro, fighting the power. Surely the man on the security cam footage had a copy of Das Kapital under his arm. This was a member of the bitter underclass, standing up for their rights against a broken system. Now that we know who did it though, it seems Luigi is just an internet-brained rich kid who is mentally unwell. Based on his online history he does not appear to be a leftist, but just a pretty run of the mill brain-rot conspiracy theorist. Though, that hasn’t stopped the internet from continuing to pretend he’s some left wing hero, despite being pretty clearly not a leftist or having any coherent ideology at all.

Luigi’s arrest came because apparently a McDonald’s worker had recognized him. The internet has no shortage of threats or insults toward that particular McDonald’s worker. Consider the irony of attacking a minimum wage worker on behalf of this privileged rich kid. The online left, champion of the working class, is harassing a minimum wage employee, for the sake of a rich kid who would call them woke. So, has Luigi really inspired some leftist reckoning? Is this what that looks like?

My point is, this is not a momentous event. This is not a turning point in history. This is not the culmination of America standing up to the rich, to a broken healthcare system, to insane income inequality, to prices, to housing, to anything. This is no turning point. This won’t inspire anything other than a bunch of memes.

Don’t believe me? Well, who did we just vote for? America just elected the council of billionaire overlords. Yeah, America has a housing crisis, and America just voted for a guy who is a billionaire from renting property. Yeah, America has a healthcare problem, we just voted for a guy who wants to repeal Obamacare and let insurer’s deny coverage for pre-existing conditions. Yeah, we’d all like the 5 dollar footlong back, but we just voted for a guy who did not provide any plan for reducing inflation. Yeah, wages are too low, but we just gave congress to the people who refuse to raise the minimum wage. Yeah, billionaires have too much power, but we just voted for a guy who is going to let a foreign billionaire decide the laws and the people who enforce them, because he gave him a bunch of money. Elon Musk paid people in PA to vote for Trump, like we were grubby little pathetic worms, and Trump won PA. Nobody was offended at the notion of a foreign billionaire buying their votes in exchange for open corruption, they said, “Yes daddy Elon”.

I’m sorry. I know this is a bummer. I know people are looking for a silver lining or a ray of hope at this time, but this isn’t it. Luigi Mangione is one person, Brian Thompson is one person, this was one event, this will not result in any changes to the healthcare system. We voted for people who are on the side of the insurance companies. Brian Thompson will be replaced by someone else who will run it the exact same way. Health insurers are private companies, they require profit, profit comes from increased revenue and decreased cost, which is done by charging as much as possible and covering as little as possible. Any CEO that cannot deliver that will be replaced over and over again until someone does. The system is the cause, and the council of billionaire overlords is not going to tell their rich friends in the health insurance industry, or their shareholders, that we’re going to a single-payer system. They are the people who time and time again have tanked any effort to do so, with, if you recall from 2009, majority support from American voters. Even Massachusetts elected a Republican Senator to stop the public option. The bluest state in America answered the call to save private insurance company profits.

The irony of some MAGA people celebrating the murder, despite having voted for the council of billionaire overlords, doesn’t refute what I’m saying. It’s not an indication of the possibility of them joining the left. It’s just a reflection of how they enjoy cruelty and frankly, don’t understand what they’re voting for. And them not understanding what they’re voting for isn’t an opportunity for inroads either. It’s a reflection of the fact that billionaires have tricked them into thinking voting for Trump and Musk was an anti-establishment vote. It’s not about right and left, it’s about poorly informed or well informed, and you can’t make someone smart. If someone thought voting for the richest man in the world was an anti-establishment vote, what are you going to say to them? Maybe this has identified some little spark that they understand income inequality is a problem, but they are constantly awash with right wing memes to bury any thought on the topic. They’ll listen to Joe Rogan, who has been rich since the 90s and has never had a real job, tell them Elon Musk is cool, and they’ll eat it up. This is a moment, and their reaction to it could inspire reflection. It won’t. Because this moment will be up against every single time they log into social media and are inundated with right wing talking points.

Take the visa scandal for example. It’s very funny to tell voters for a decade that education is bad, and student loans should be as painful as possible, and that immigrants are the cause of all their problems, only to turn around and tell them you have to give the good jobs to foreigners who went to American colleges. And MAGA voters are free to pick fruit. Have fun. But what has come of this ‘civil war’? It’s practically forgotten about already. They were mad, sure, but the internet, controlled by billionaires, stifles any protest against them. Elon Musk has censored MAGA people on X. Maybe that outraged someone for a moment. But again, you have to understand that people are absolutely awash, 24/7, in right wing talking points on the internet. And whatever class outrage they have will ultimately be eclipsed by racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, buying Greenland or whatever stupid distraction is being pushed by the memes and the Rogans, because whatever moment breaks through the noise will ultimately fade in the face of the relentless BS the internet throws at them.

Again, I don’t mean to be a bummer, I would love a better healthcare system and a more equitable economy. But I can’t allow myself to be swept up in this ridiculous Rorschach test, because we just voted for Epstein’s friend to be President. So, I’m sorry, but whatever it is people are seeing in this splash of ink on a paper, it’s just a random splash of ink on a paper. It doesn’t mean anything. The election is what mattered, and the election has ushered in a golden age for billionaires and corporations.

by Zackary Goncz

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