Posted on Friday, December 20, 2024
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by Tammy Bruce
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0 Comments
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Woman 1: Oh wow!
Woman 2: What?!
Woman 1: It’s Luigi!
Man 1: Is that Luigi?
Women in Unison: YES!
You’d be forgiven if you thought this exchange happened in the 1960s when the Beatles were disembarking the airplane, arriving in another city for another concert as their fame grew around the world. Like with Elvis, girls and women were regular fans, gathering to scream and faint their way through a sighting of their favorite entertainer.
But Luigi is not a new Paul McCartney, or Elvis, or even Justin Bieber. It’s the man accused of gunning down a stranger, a father of two, and corporate executive named Brian Thompson, in midtown New York. His delighted fans in a video posted to TikTok and reported on by the New York Post, are adults in what seems to be an office. They are together in some kind of building (with “very dirty windows” they lament) across from the helipad where accused murderer Luigi Mangione was being escorted to a waiting car on his return to New York from Pennsylvania to face murder and multiple other charges.
Do they know the murdered man’s name? His wife’s name? How old his children are? This at least will tell them how long those children will have to live without a father. The answer is very likely, no. The good news is, that the system itself is responding appropriately to this act of savagery. In addition to state murder charges, the federal government has announced murder and stalking charges, making him eligible for the death penalty.
The fan convention continued…“It’s Luigi! See him in the orange jumpsuit?!” A man joins in with the adoration of the alleged cold-blooded murderer: “Oh my God!… You’re doing great baby!” If someone being perp-walked to his hearing about being charged with murder is considered “doing great” by someone, standards are exceedingly low, and does carry the risk of ending as an episode of “Buried in the Backyard.”
After wish-casting his encouragement for the alleged maniac, this male friend/co-worker/neighbor, then squeals. “We love you, Luigi!” one of the women longingly assures the 26-year-old apparent lunatic. While Mangione will never hear it, she at least has conveyed to her pals that she, too, loves a complete stranger for (looks at notes) shooting a man in the back simply because he worked in an industry they hate. The good news for her is that at some point Mangione will probably be found on a prisoner pen-pal site looking for a prison bride, or at least a prison fool. If you’re that fan, you just have to hope he doesn’t end up hating you, too.
The video of this disturbing display has gone viral across social media, along with shocking displays of support for an alleged murderer and no sympathy or consideration at all for a man who worked for a demonized industry, and in death was demonized himself. But this is part and parcel of what the left does—cast certain people, groups, or companies as enemies of freedom or “democracy,” and if you can degrade and demonize them enough, murder emerges as the tool of the times.
The support for Mangione started almost immediately. Many in the legacy media, including the New York Times, began to shape a narrative providing an “explanation” about why this would happen. After all, everyone’s mad at the insurance industry…” etc. etc. I think it’s fair to say most of us have had a horrible interaction with our health insurance company. And yet strangely, our go-to answer has not been to plot the murder of and stalk a complete stranger and “send a message.” That’s madness, not passion. But the Times, the paper of record, wants you to know it’s understandable and all about health coverage and… income inequality: “The killing of the UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson has mesmerized a deeply polarized nation that shares a collective frustration over dealings with health insurance companies…” insists the paper. But it’s the support and love Mangione is receiving that needs romanticizing: “That adulation reflects public anger over health care, said Nsikan Akpan, managing editor for Think Global Health, a publication that explores health issues at the Council on Foreign Relations. ‘The UHC killing and the social media response stem from people feeling helpless over health coverage and income inequality,’ he said. The topic is so often ignored by American public officials, he said, that voters have stopped listing it as a top priority.”
How far are they going to assure you that this is understandable? Far enough to allow their expert to erase the victim entirely by calling this “the UHC killing.” UnitedHealthcare wasn’t killed, Brian Thompson was. But that won’t do if this is to serve ideological goals. The person killed is a symbol, not a real human being.
None of this is reasonable or normal. The Atlantic calls the response a reflection of the “coarsening of society.” And it is. But that is also just a symptom of something much deeper—the death of right and wrong, a moral relativism relied upon by those who benefit from a collapsing civil society. Nicole Gelinas at the New York Post discusses the murder of Thompson within the context of the condition of civil life in New York: “After nearly three decades of sure decline, murder rose 53% between 2019 and 2021, the highest such rise in such a short time on record. Murder is still 14% above 2019 levels, and there’s no sign we’ll get back there anytime soon. Felonies are 30% higher than in 2019. And random chaos reigns: Thompson’s killing came barely two weeks after Ramon Rivera, sprung on no-bail supervised release on a recent theft charge, after having just served a months-long sentence in Rikers for repeat thefts and burglaries, stabbed three strangers to death across core Manhattan.”
And how and when did all of that start? We could argue that Rolling Stone putting one of the Boston Bombers on the cover of their magazine—as though he were a guitar hero—was a signal of the collapse. And what of the women who marry the Menendez brothers, and the love letters Ted Bundy received while awaiting the electric chair? The human condition will always deliver inexplicable actions by individuals. But what we’re seeing here is something larger and deeper. It’s the result of moral relativism, social chaos, the overwhelming use of illegal and pharmaceutical drugs, and leftist policies that have created a sense of hopelessness and doom. All of this can be addressed, but it has to start now.
Tammy Bruce, an Independent Conservative, has traversed a unique political journey that reflects her commitment to principles rather than party affiliations. She joined Fox News in 2005 as a Political Contributor, hosting her show “Get Tammy Bruce” on Fox Nation and providing insightful commentary on various issues for the Association for Mature Americans (AMAC).
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
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