An rare opinion piece on the Luigi Mangione phenomenon that doesn’t argue for the status quo to be maintained (i.e., rich capitalists that systematically exploit the poor and profit from their deaths deserve to live their lives in peace without fear of reprisals, for some reason, according to 95% of mainstream media).
The message is clear enough: if there’s going to be a new idol, someone with whom to forge a parasocial bond, it will not be another singer, dancer, or neo-Kardashian. The youth, at least, increasingly feel this way. They cannot be told to stop with their Luigi memes as anger at institutions continues to build. Even Trump, the great disruptor, will not be immune to this dynamic when he is president again.
Over the next decade, the great clashes might not be between left and right but inside and outside – those who are open about their disdain for existing institutions and those who seek a new order. The worship of Mangione is less about Mangione himself, and more an indication of where we are headed. The rancor will not abate.
Edit: To the person who reported this article as being off topic for this community:
The point of posting this article was to illustrate the widespread neoliberal propagandist take of the vast majority of the mainstream media hand-wringing over “violence” in this particular case. When the target of violence is a rich CEO behind one of the most scummy health insurance companies in the US, the mainstream media (at least in neoliberal countries) is apoplectic with shock over what they see as a “terrorist” attack on the core of their society.
But when the target of violence is poor or otherwise marginalized people, then they are perfectly happy to go along with it. Every time a cop murders a black guy, do we get this sort of response from the mainstream media? Fuck no. This is a clear example of propaganda being used to prop up the status quo of the US healthcare system, including the systematic use of structural violence towards the poor and disenfranchised for the sake of shareholder profit (an inherent characteristic of the US economy broadly supported by Democrats and Republicans alike).
Even if you really believe that non-violence is the only valid approach, then that principle needs to be extended to include CEOs that generate profit from the misery and death of their customers. That shit should be 100% illegal and those CEOs should be locked up in prison already like Mangione is. Until that starts happening, then I’ll keep on pointing out the hypocrisy of the mainstream media in being complicit in effectively supporting one form of violence (the profitable kind) and not the other.
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I’m a bit confused what you both mean by “liking things ironically”, I understand the concept in various different ways, but having a hard time understanding the context of this one.
It’s hard for me to put into words. Like I used to have a purple shirt with a bald man on it, that said bald is beautiful. I had another shirt that was light lime green that showed a blurry photo of some kind of rib-like meat. We got these weird things generally from Goodwill and Salvation Army stores. I had a 100% polyester button up with insane swirling colors and massive lapels. I would wear it buttoned down so my chest hair showed with a fake gold chain.
I wore these clothes “ironically”. This kind of fashion was popular from the late 90s to like 2010 or so. It was associated with a “I don’t give a fuck” punk or punk-adjacent style. The thing is, I did like these ridiculous clothes. But I wore them “ironically” as a shield against being thought uncool. We did all kinds of things ironically. Listen to “bad” music, watch “bad” movies, etc.
The irony excuse was always there to protect you because you didn’t really like any of this stuff, only ironically. I think it was a very damaging attitude to the mental health of my generation. Many of us became incapable of being real, at least for a time.
What MutilationWave said is probably the best description of what “liking things ironically” was and the thought process behind it. “I like this thing but I can let other people know so I wear it but pretend to dislike it.”
My opinion is, prevalence of that attitude in the late 2000s/early 2010s was a culmination point of a cultural cynicism that was prevalent in the US during the 90s. That cynicism started in popular culture but filtered into politics and the capitalist system as the status quo got worse. The popularity of Donald Trump or the person that shot that health insurance CEO is because they are seen as authentic even if they might not be, as a the case with Trump.