I’ve been going to bars lately because it’s cold outside, people in bars have loose tongues, and it’s easy to talk to them. Today I went into the Strong Rope Brewery on the waterfront and asked customers and bartenders a provocative question for the January issue:
What are your feelings about the Luigi Mangione phenomenon?
For those of you who have been living under a rock, Luigi Mangione is a wealthy and intelligent 26-year-old from Baltimore, MD who shot and killed Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, on December 4 in broad daylight in the middle of Manhattan. He’s being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. After his arrest the internet erupted with supporters who consider the assassination an act of heroism on behalf of the millions of sick Americans who have been denied coverage by the U.S. health insurance industry.
Richie, enjoying a beer with his dog, Ringo, at his side: From the get-go the footage of the shooting was very sensational, almost like we were watching a movie, it almost reminded me of a Jason Bourne or 007 fantasy. And even within the first day there was speculation about the shooter’s motive, because of who the shooting victim was. And I don’t even think I was influenced by social media posts, but right away I thought about how many claims that company denies every year, and okay, murder is bad, but I could the shooter as a kind of Robin Hood figure, like well, maybe he’s not the worst guy in the world. And you have to wonder why this shooting is receiving as much attention as it does. People get shot every single day. And just because this guy who got shot was connected to a lot of money, it’s suddenly more relevant than all the other shootings? Okay, he did have a family and everything. And I want to make myself have compassion for him. But I just don’t have much compassion for a corporate CEO that’s basically responsible for killing thousands of people.
Bartenders Katie Spurgin and Brianna Halstead:
Katie: I think that the health insurance industry is a scam, and that insurance companies are murdering people every day, and I don’t have any sympathy for the man who was killed and that might sound harsh, but these are my personal feelings. I’m excited by the response from people across the country.
So you had a positive response to the burst of attention given to Luigi Mangione.
Yeah, I feel it’s like an awakening of a class consciousness. I mean I don’t want more people to die, I want more people to live, and families have been torn apart and lives have been destroyed by the health insurance industry, and I’m hoping that bringing more attention to the issue will eventually do some good.
Brianna: The stuff that they do is worse than what (Mangione) did. Like using AI to take our parents off life-saving drugs that they need. They do these calculations, like, well, if this results in the death of this many people, I can make this much more money, So I feel fine about my calculation that it’s okay that this one person died, because he would have kicked any of us down the drain. My father has COPD and he has to get his medication from Canada because the drugs here are so expensive. I just had to go to the doctor for a serious allergic reaction, and I had to buy shampoo that costs four hundred dollars. I had to get a pre-authorization and wait a bunch of days for them to tell me I could have it. And then they didn’t even pay for it, they just gave me a bunch of coupons. It’s a big racket. I had to pay for a portion of it, and if I have to use this stuff every day, and they don’t want to pay for it, it makes it harder for me to work. The last two weeks I’ve had a hard time at my job, because my skin gets so irritated, but I need my job.
Katie: That perp walk today (of Mangione escorted to jail by a phalanx of police) and the way they villainize this man is only putting him on a higher pedestal, because everyone is saying, hey, that guy is in our favor. They’re trying to accuse him of terrorism because later, if we protest, they can call us terrorists.
Group sitting around a table: (No photo)
Guy #1: It made me think about how the media perceive attractiveness as an important feature. Like maybe if he looked different he wouldn’t be such a big deal.
Guy #2: I’m not surprised that people have embraced the act of doing this. It’s a less-than-ideal way to bring up some really big questions about how insurance companies control the fate of so many people. So that definitely tapped into something. Assassination as a political act probably goes back to the earliest civilization. But it’s surprising how many people have accepted what happened to this person. It had to do less with the person himself than what he stood for. It’s not about him being a dad, or a husband…
It’s almost like he wasn’t considered an actual person.
Yes. Like an actual human.
Guy #3: All of a sudden my friends were messaging me, saying stuff like, oh no, I can’t wear this backpack anymore, because that was part of the description of the killer. It’s ridiculous, and I’m really not interested in it. I’ve got way more important things on my mind. But it is interesting how much attention it’s gotten.
Yes. People are putting tattoos of him on their bodies. He’s being idolized. It says something about what the hell is going on in our society.
Guy #2: I think people feel cut off from controlling all the ways that we live. And someone who goes outside our system, who goes against our social codes to do something like this to make a point may seem…heroic. Because people feel like the normal means of changing things aren’t working.
There’s a metal shop down the alley and I interrupted metal fabricators Julian and Troy who were busy renovating their premises.
Julian: The health insurance companies are the real criminals. I think it’s entirely understandable that someone would do something like that.
Troy: My thoughts are kind of complicated because it’s been very interesting seeing the response to a person’s murder in broad daylight. And I think it’s been good in terms of bringing out conversations about how messed up the healthcare industry is, and how corrupt the system is, but oh God, an act of violence like that…
You have mixed feelings about it.
For sure. Because if people start barging into homes, and murdering families…I mean this was an isolated event, on the street, but if people take up this kind of call, and it starts happening to other people, to politicians – the cycle of violence can get out of hand. And then it becomes counterproductive to the cause of calling attention to the corrupt nature of the health insurance industry.
But if I’m reading you right, you also have been concerned and angry about the healthcare system.
I have. I’ve had family members that have gone through terrible experiences. My father passed away because of health insurance issues. He had a stroke, and he didn’t have enough health insurance for good physical therapy, and he slowly got worse and worse. He never recovered.
Drew Balaika, walking down the alley after his bartending shift at Strong Rope: I think two things can be true at the same time. The healthcare system can be very detrimental for the average American, and murder can still be wrong. And I think it’s unfortunate that people can feel so powerless that this is the route that they take. Like that guy in Colorado twenty years ago who destroyed all those buildings with a bulldozer. (Marvin Heemeyer, a disgruntled muffler repair shop owner in Granby, CO, who plowed through several buildings, including the town hall, and then evaded arrest by shooting himself to death.) It’s not something new for people to take matters into their own hands and become vigilantes, and sometimes they become kind of a folk hero. I don’t agree with (Mangione’s) choices. But I’d be the first person to say our health care system is pretty busted.
Have you been affected by it?
It’s definitely affected my life. I’m on Medicaid, and I’m a bartender and my annual pay is in flux. If I make too much my Medicaid can be taken away.
I thought I might need a fresh perspective and drove over to Food Bazaar. I introduced myself to Bill Carroll as he was pushing his shopping cart.
Bill: Well, this is obviously an intelligent guy. He has a good record in school and he comes from a family that’s fairly well-off. They seem to care about him. They hired a lawyer for him down in Pennsylvania to prevent him from being extradited to New York. I actually feel sorry for him, and I feel sorry for his family. I’m sure they’re all broken over this. But it was murder, there’s no question about it.
How do you feel about the reaction to the murder? Lots and lots of people are glorifying him, and he’s become kind of a folk hero.
Well, lots and lots of people voted for Donald Trump too. But so much of this comes down to guns. All kinds of guns. And unregistered guns. I think it’s outrageous that they still don’t have strict rules about who gets to buy a gun. The constitution allows it, but it’s not for the purpose that these guys use them for. It was never intended for use of weapons like the AR 15s, or even military weapons, whether they’re M16s, or like the Russian guns, the AK 47s. I don’t see why we should have to explain that to people.
I greeted my friend Venus Trujillo while she was closing out her register:
Venus: He’s getting all these fans because there are a lot of people who are denied health insurance and they need it. My wife had spinal surgery, and this is expensive, and the insurance company gave her a hard time. I don’t believe in taking anyone’s life, but it’s possible for someone to get so frustrated that they take matters into their own hands.
