A visit to the crime scene reveals a story untold in this not quite Ryan Murphy-ready drama. (And signs remain this brain-befogged fanboy didn’t act entirely on his own.)
"Yes, we can make sense of Luigi Mangione. His behavior matches that of the previously well-adjusted young men I have evaluated who rapidly descended into psychosis. After months of isolation and internal preoccupation, an utterly unfamiliar self emerges, identified by psychotic delusions...
He, and he alone, would expose this immoral system by killing one of its leaders in a “symbolic takedown.” His new self is grandiose to a psychotic degree..."
His repost of the Trolley Problem points to someone who was considering the question of a human sacrifice for the greater good two years prior. Also, he wasn’t SO isolated, traveling Asia in the months prior and making friends. Reaching out to people over social media. I don’t know how “utterly unfamiliar” this self is. Somewhere in one of his (since removed) profiles, I think he’s got “know thyself” in the header.; it’s No. 2 on his Goodreads favorite quote list (attributed as it is to Socrates). Maybe the drugs friends reportedly say he was using to alleviate the symptoms of his varied ailments triggered a break. He also (reportedly) visited Vietnam, a non-extradition country sometime in the late spring. I want to know what the foreign currency was he was carrying when he was arrested.
Thanks, Phoebe! Your writing is amazing. It had to be side effects from psychedelics and painkillers for chronic pain, compounding his mental state which likely (devastatingly) returned after his back surgery.* His complete withdrawal and alleged actions are so antithetical to his happy golden retriever / resident advisor energy. Every photo prior to his arrest, a shit eating grin.
People dream of living this kid's life - world traveler, no money worries, living parents, huge loving family, circles of friends, good looks, social training and elite education. For him to preemptively write a note to the feds, allegedly, to be read in the event that he is killed and unable to speak for himself is an extraordinary twist.
Phoebe, you are a wonderful writer. I learned so much more about Luigi than I have seen in the mainstream media. This story is going to fascinate America for the next year.
What stands out for me about Luigi is his mind-boggling level of cluelessness in thinking that murdering an anonymous business executive is a moral political act. That people applaud him for this kind of deranged act is astonishing. It is reminiscent of death threats made on social media made to journalists who write something not quite politically correct. Death threats on social media and planned murders of businessmen are not legitimate political expressions. That some think they are, shows how divorced from any kind of reality some corners of our political discourse have become.
Yes agreed, for people who don't get their health insurance from medicare or a good plan through an employer and have to buy it on their own,getting adequate health Insurance can be a nightmare.
Any thoughts of clinical psychologist Paul Siegel's take in The NY Times at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/26/opinion/letters/teens-parents-pornography.html:
"Yes, we can make sense of Luigi Mangione. His behavior matches that of the previously well-adjusted young men I have evaluated who rapidly descended into psychosis. After months of isolation and internal preoccupation, an utterly unfamiliar self emerges, identified by psychotic delusions...
He, and he alone, would expose this immoral system by killing one of its leaders in a “symbolic takedown.” His new self is grandiose to a psychotic degree..."
His repost of the Trolley Problem points to someone who was considering the question of a human sacrifice for the greater good two years prior. Also, he wasn’t SO isolated, traveling Asia in the months prior and making friends. Reaching out to people over social media. I don’t know how “utterly unfamiliar” this self is. Somewhere in one of his (since removed) profiles, I think he’s got “know thyself” in the header.; it’s No. 2 on his Goodreads favorite quote list (attributed as it is to Socrates). Maybe the drugs friends reportedly say he was using to alleviate the symptoms of his varied ailments triggered a break. He also (reportedly) visited Vietnam, a non-extradition country sometime in the late spring. I want to know what the foreign currency was he was carrying when he was arrested.
Thanks, Phoebe! Your writing is amazing. It had to be side effects from psychedelics and painkillers for chronic pain, compounding his mental state which likely (devastatingly) returned after his back surgery.* His complete withdrawal and alleged actions are so antithetical to his happy golden retriever / resident advisor energy. Every photo prior to his arrest, a shit eating grin.
People dream of living this kid's life - world traveler, no money worries, living parents, huge loving family, circles of friends, good looks, social training and elite education. For him to preemptively write a note to the feds, allegedly, to be read in the event that he is killed and unable to speak for himself is an extraordinary twist.
* See https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/chronic-pain-can-cause-a-kind-of-madness-i-know-this-personally-2aa6a6de
Phoebe, you are a wonderful writer. I learned so much more about Luigi than I have seen in the mainstream media. This story is going to fascinate America for the next year.
Thanks, Hal.
What stands out for me about Luigi is his mind-boggling level of cluelessness in thinking that murdering an anonymous business executive is a moral political act. That people applaud him for this kind of deranged act is astonishing. It is reminiscent of death threats made on social media made to journalists who write something not quite politically correct. Death threats on social media and planned murders of businessmen are not legitimate political expressions. That some think they are, shows how divorced from any kind of reality some corners of our political discourse have become.
It did get people talking about the ever-worsening nightmare that is health insurance.
Yes agreed, for people who don't get their health insurance from medicare or a good plan through an employer and have to buy it on their own,getting adequate health Insurance can be a nightmare.
Yup, there had to be a Santa Cruz angle. There just had to be.
Great article, Phoebe! Kudos!
Joan Didion wishes she’d written this … 🙏