You read the news, as do I. So you know where you were when two weeks ago, on December 4th, at about 6:45 in the morning, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione killed Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Health Care, on the streets of Manhattan. Mangione used a ghost gun to carry out this act. You can create parts for this gun from any standard 3D printer.
You also know where you were when about two weeks later, on December 16th, 15-year-old Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow attended Abundant Life Christian School as if were any other Monday, then proceeded to use her father’s 9mm pistol to kill a teacher and a fellow student, as well as injure four others.
Mangione’s attack stemmed from financial and mental distress after a botched back operation and his insurance’s denial of his claims. Rupnow’s came from a developed hatred of humanity on behalf of online neo-Nazi accounts.
Make no mistake: What Mangione and Rupnow did was incredibly wrong. (I know you might come at me for calling what Mangione did “wrong”, and I know where you’re coming from, but still, it wasn’t right.) But at the end of the day, both Mangoine and Rupnow were young people trapped in pain.
Stay with me now, because you might think I’m sympathetic to these two. I’ve simply made a bad habit of observing people for the better part of my three decades (and counting) on this Earth. And I can understand the reasons why people in similar situations would resort to extreme acts, whether it’s to send a message or to achieve some kind of means to an end. For Mangione, it was the former: Show health insurances companies that people are tired of being denied care. For Rupnow, it was the latter: End it all and escape existence, but go out blazing.
Mangione didn’t get the help he needed for his physical pain. His insurance could have approved his claims, allowing him to get care and avoid financial stress. Likewise, it appears Rupnow didn’t have anyone guiding her away from the horrific influences alluring her on social media, or anyone who cared for her wellbeing and mental health. They therefore defaulted to the behavior many before them have exhibited under great duress: Get a gun and shoot somebody.
Somewhat off-topic, but before I forget: Consider how the right wing and associated parties immediately thought Mangione and Rupnow were leftist, Marxist, atheist, and/or transgender. Instead of shutting up, waiting for the truth, and being wise, they immediately decided to put the blame on their political enemies.
Come to think of it, that’s not off-topic. It blends into the next thing I was about to say.
It’s very easy to say that gun control could have kept Mangione and Rupnow from killing folks. It’s very easy to rally against the politicians and Second Amendment defenders and make bold statements about why we need gun law reform now. I will stand with anyone who calls for gun control and I’ll shout through the megaphone for politicians to get off their asses, stop being afraid of the NRA and the right, and write the legislation. But it’s not just about gun control. It’s not about any one thing, except for this:
Probably what could have stopped Mangione and Rupnow from going postal is if someone had cared.
Yes! Real personal human-to-human care could have prevented these attacks. Of course, gun control could have also stopped them, perhaps along with universal health care and proper mental health resources and more oversight on content shared on social media and better moderation of Internet use and so on. But all of these things do fall under the umbrella of care. Instead, American society has chosen to favor capital over humanity, leading health care companies to allow AI bots to deny claims without human review and social media to draw teens down dark paths. If people die at the invisible hand of capitalism, they die. God forbid we treat people with respect because it might hurt the bottom line.
We know the motives behind Mangione’s and Rupnow’s acts, because they left behind manifestos. In Mangione’s, he cites the US having the most expensive health care system in the world but ranking #42 in life expectancy, the wealth and corruption of health care CEOs, and the exorbitant claim denial rate from major insurance companies such as United Health Care. Rupnow’s manifesto cites repeated school bullying, her parents’ multiple divorces, her mother’s drug issues, her father’s alcoholism, and her feeling like she was unloved and unwanted by her family. Her manifesto also makes apparent the influence of consuming far-right and otherwise extreme content on social media. Both of these writings showcase a severe lack of care from people who should have cared: Parents, professionals, friends, colleagues, strangers. That lack of care got us here, not just over the past two weeks. That lack of care has led to so many other tragedies over the course of history which could have been prevented. And yet, here we are.
I had to take a few hours away from writing this due to other responsibilities and also because I wanted to clear my head. And in that time I realized I might get flack for treating Mangione and Rupnow like victims. I’m not saying we should treat either of them like martyrs or saints. But they were human, and they were dealing with real human pain, and they were capable of doing what any human could do when forced into a horrifically painful place. It takes real fortitude not to give in to our basest instincts. That fortitude does not always come easily.
Mangione and Rupnow will reap what they’ve sown, unfortunately. The former will most likely spend the rest of his life in jail, in order for the powers that be to send a message to all those who might also want to go after the rich and powerful. The latter will only be remembered posthumously as a terfnazi femcel. Many bad faith actors will continue to allege these were false flags or make up any number of allegations to avoid having to grapple with the failures of our society which led Mangione and Rupnow down their respective paths to desolation. Few people will recall who Mangione and Rupnow were before they became symbols of our country’s failures.
It is not too late, and it is never too late. We can institute gun reforms to keep us safe from each other and ourselves. We can reform our health care system to make care affordable and accessible instead of in the for-profit interests of rich CEOs. We can provide help and support to young people who feel like they’re unloved or unwanted to prevent them from following dangerous movements. We can create a better world for people so no one has to resort to stripping themselves of their humanity. All people have to do is care.
This is easier said than done, of course. Because Mangione and Rupnow are reflections of American society as a whole. When the entire country is in so much pain, and has been in pain for so long, it seems like the only way forward is to take heed of Abraham Lincoln’s words from his 1839 Lyceum address:
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
Hopefully we can stop writing the story of our own destruction. It’s up to us to find the strength to do so.
Disclaimer: Did you read this and go “Hey Will, that’s a little messed up?” Let me know! Let’s chat. Please be nice.
Disclaimer 2: I’m going to be real, the title is a little cringe. But I can’t think of anything better. So let’s be a little cringe.