Hello comrades. In the interest of upholding our code of conduct - specifically, rule 1 (providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all) - we felt it appropriate to make a statement regarding the lionization of Luigi Mangione, the alleged United Healthcare CEO shooter, also known as “The Adjuster.”

In the day or so since the alleged shooter’s identity became known to the public, the whole world has had the chance to dig though his personal social media accounts and attempt to decipher his political ideology and motives. What we have learned may shock you. He is not one of us. He is a “typical” American with largely incoherent, and in many cases reactionary politics. For the most part, what is remarkable about the man himself is that he chose to take out his anger on a genuine enemy of the proletariat, instead of an elementary school.

This is a situation where the art must be separated from the artist. We do not condemn the attack, but as a role model, Luigi Mangione falls short. We do not expect perfection from revolutionary figures either, but we expect a modicum of revolutionary discipline. We expect them not simply to identify an unpopular element of society hitler-detector , but to clearly illuminate the causes of oppression and the means by which they are overcome. When we canonize revolutionary figures, we are holding them up as an example to be followed.

This is where things come back to rule 1. Mangione has a long social media history bearing a spectrum of reactionary viewpoints, and interacting positively with many powerful reactionary figures. While some commenters have referred to this as “nothing malicious,” by lionizing this man we effectively deem this behavior acceptable, or at the very least, safe to ignore. This is the type of tailism which opens the door to making a space unsafe for marginalized people.

We’re going to be more strict on moderating posts which do little more than lionize the shooter. There is plenty to be said about the unfolding events, the remarkably positive public reaction, how public reactions to “propaganda of the deed” may have changed since the historical epoch of its conception (and how the strategic hazards might not have), and many other aspects of the news without canonizing this man specifically. We can still dance on the graves of our enemies and celebrate their rediscovered fear and vulnerability without the vulgar revisionism needed to pretend this man is some sort of example of Marxist or Anarchist practice.

    • Dessa [she/her]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      72
      ·
      edit-2
      12 天前

      It would be one thing if he was the leader of an org, or in a position to seize political power. It’d be important then to get a full picture of who he is because the breadth of his views would be consequential. But he’s just a guy who did a good thing for a good reason. My saying this doesnt excuse his other beliefs, but turning this event into an evaluation of his other beliefs is blunting a revolutionary moment.

      For once, the left and right are in agreement that the bourgeoisie are contributing to the misery of the working class. Let’s please not squander this

    • newmou [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      50
      ·
      12 天前

      Right? We’re not using Luigi as a vector for radicalization, we’re admiring the moment of radicalization he brought on by himself in the masses by killing a CEO. Have some fun jfc

      • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        60
        ·
        edit-2
        12 天前

        Communists literally sent humanity to space.

        Like I get making fun of the paralysis of the modern leftist in the west, but it’s wild to me what people will broadly describe communists as in effecting when it created two super powers from peasantry.

        • MouthyHooker [she/her]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          64
          ·
          12 天前

          I’ll paraphrase Hasan here: he got the Lindas and the Barbaras on Facebook saying “Yeah! Kill another one!”

          He got Ben Shapiro’s audience saying “Actually, Ben, it’s not just the left celebrating.”

          It’s a stirring of class consciousness. He’s certainly not going to lead a movement, but he awakened something. It’s up to us what we do with it.

          (I am of course referring to writing strongly-worded letters and making evocative, edgy signs for our peaceful protests. That sort of thing.)

        • SevenSkalls [he/him]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          15
          ·
          edit-2
          11 天前

          I’ve never seen so much class consciousness online before, nor so many people talking about healthcare in our country since Bernie Sanders ran 5 and 10 years ago. The left AND right is celebrating this. That’s the first I’ve ever seen.

          There’s also a huge disconnect between the media’s propaganda and what normal, working-class people think about this. We can leverage that wedge to show how wrong the media has been this whole time.

          It’s also the first time I’ve seen people be for violence that isn’t wielded by the state. This is sparking unprecedented revolutionary discourse that the left cannot squander.

        • Dessa [she/her]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          10 天前

          It’s not just about what he did, but what we do in response to that. Do we dissolve into the same old petty bickering, or do we use this moment? We can’t use this moment if people are chilled from talking about it

        • MouthyHooker [she/her]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          53
          ·
          edit-2
          12 天前

          He does have some of the beliefs, though. His Reddit posting history talked about how we live in a capitalist society so doctors only take chronic pain seriously if you tell them you can’t do your job.

          He is not a Marxist and his actions did more to advance class consciousness than most of us on this website have probably ever done and he is kind of a douchebag tech bro rich kid who likes Elon Musk. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Idk what to make of it, but murdering a CEO because the US is number one in healthcare spending and number 42 in life expectancy is praxis.

        • Awoo [she/her]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          44
          ·
          12 天前

          His beliefs seem simple. Parasites are harming people. They’re causing horrific healthcare experiences, which he had first hand. Nothing will change without taking matters into own hands. Class war should be waged against them.

          These beliefs are fine and they are the only relevant beliefs to why he carried this out as far as we can tell.