Quote:

---

Klippenstein also notes that not just the Times, but all other media outlets who have Mangione’s “manifesto,” have refused to publish most of it. You can read the full document at Klippenstein’s site. It’s in fact little more than a note of explanation. But why is he alone in presenting it?

Three Reasons

There are three layers of reason for this odd behavior, both with respect to his photo and “manifesto,” each more instructive and important than the last.

...


But the deeper reason, which Klippenstein doesn’t address, is in fact the most obvious. It’s so obvious that everyone but media is pointing it out.

The billionaire class, the maybe 1000 people who run the country plus a bunch of their CEOs, has been milking the country of cash since at least Reagan days, and we’ve been allowing it, willing if not eager participants.

COWS BEING MILKED
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/00-mangione
-3.jpeg

But the constant advantage-taking has taken its toll. Ever since Obama promised us hope-and-change…

…and failed to deliver, the nation has been pre-revolutionary. Certainly both Sanders campaigns showed that the hunger for relief was not just felt on the Right, but in the whole country.

BERNIE SANDERS RALLY
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/00-mangione
-5.jpeg

THE CROPPED PHOTO OF A HILLARY "CAMPAIGN RALLY" ... AND WHAT REALLY HAPPENED
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/00-mangione
-6.jpeg

For a variety of reasons, this discontent has given us President Trump two times out of three, and while many on the Right are best pleased, those on the Left or the silent uncared-about center (voters and non-voters alike) aren’t feeling well served.

Okay, that’s a euphemism. The nation is pissed. Health care in particular is a death trap for many, who pay and never get back, and then often die. UHC in particular is an industry apex predator:

A LETTER FROM A PISSED-OFF ONCOLOGIST EXPLAINING THAT 4-YEAR OLDS GETTING CHEMO REALLY DO NEED THE ANTI-NAUSEA, ANTI-VOMITTING DRUGS DENIED BY INSURANCE

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/00-mangione
-7.jpeg

And Thompson is a perfect example of a CEO class that, let’s be honest, kills for profit by aggressive denial of care. His compensation is estimated at $10 million per year and the company’s “hugely profitable 2025 financial outlook [includes] expected revenues upwards of $450 billion.”

People watch people die and the rich grow fat. How else to explain the massive swell of support for Mangione’s deed? It’s hard to find articles documenting it, but the phenomenon itself is rampant on Twitter and TikTok. And it’s not just the kids. Doctors and patients weigh in.

Check it out for yourself. People sing Mangione’s praise and almost literally dance above Thompson’s grave.

A MOM WITH A TERMINALLY ILL CHILD, HER REACTION TO CEO'S KILLING, ALONG WITH SNIPPETS OF DENIALS FROM HER INSURANCE
https://x.com/leahmcelrath/status/1866885834193969441


So the final reason for media fear is simple: It’s the class war come home.

People see murderers getting their just deserts — put simply, “Jack Reacher-style” (a widely loved hero-avenger, by the way) — and they’re not troubled at all. The fact is, most Americans will justify retribution. Didn’t most of us cheer while watching both Iraq Wars?

So the fear of a copy-cat wave is both wrong and right. It may not be the few and deranged that are inspired, but the many and done-being-had — not a simple repeat of an awful deed, but a sudden Arab Spring. You never know; there really are moments this fraught with radical paths.

I don’t condone murder, and I don’t want to live in a state filled with killing and war. But I do know people, and sometimes, when in Jefferson’s words “a long train of abuses and usurpations” drives people to act, they act regardless of outcome.

We may be watching that now. I think the rich think we are.

---