--- title: The Internet Missed the Point on Luigi Mangione description: Mythologizing Mangione will not get us any closer to the truth of what happened or what he seems to be after, writes Kara Alaimo. canonical: https://time.com/7201952/luigi-mangione-internet-myths-essay/ author: Kara Alaimo article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-12-13T12:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:50:13.873Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Internet Missed the Point on Luigi Mangione og:description: Mythologizing Mangione will not get us any closer to the truth of what happened or what he seems to be after. og:url: https://time.com/7201952/luigi-mangione-internet-myths-essay/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6793170648617ad/698b24b2cabb1db8cae5bb9f/luigi-mangione-internet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: luigi-mangione-internet og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Internet Missed the Point on Luigi Mangione twitter:description: Mythologizing Mangione will not get us any closer to the truth of what happened or what he seems to be after. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6793170648617ad/698b24b2cabb1db8cae5bb9f/luigi-mangione-internet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Internet Missed the Point on Luigi Mangione > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=3198e651-2258-4f49-9bb9-e2b79a5eac7b&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: UnitedHealthcare CEO Shooting Suspect Contests Extradition Back to New York [Watch (HLS stream): UnitedHealthcare CEO Shooting Suspect Contests Extradition Back to New York](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Nc1I9hz2.m3u8) (1:41)  _Published 2024-12-11. The suspect arrested in connection with the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week has been identified as Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from Towson, Maryland._ by [Kara Alaimo](https://time.com/author/kara-alaimo/) ## Kara Alaimo Dec 13, 2024 12:00 PM UTC  Luigi Mangione is escorted by police to his arraignment at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pa., Dec. 9, 2024. Luigi Mangione is escorted by police to his arraignment at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pa., Dec. 9, 2024. Center photo: Rachel Wisniewski—The New York Times/Redux by [Kara Alaimo](https://time.com/author/kara-alaimo/) ## Kara Alaimo Dec 13, 2024 12:00 PM UTC From the moment Luigi Mangione was revealed as the person [arrested](https://time.com/7200981/luigi-mangione-uhc-ceo-killing/) in connection with last week’s murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, stories started spinning out about him on social media. Alibis posted by users who have manipulated photos of Mangione to suggest he was in different places at the time of the crime are [breaking the Internet](https://www.dailydot.com/memes/luigi-mangione-alibi-jokes/). He’s also become somewhat of an online [sex symbol](https://www.newsweek.com/luigi-mangione-online-sex-symbol-1998794), with users claiming he’s “too hot to convict” and a “mug shot hottie.” And after his arrest, he gained about [1,000 followers a minute](https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/crime/2024/12/09/luigi-mangione-social-media-following) on X, as people poured through his past posts. Because [shell casings](https://time.com/7200981/luigi-mangione-uhc-ceo-killing/) at the scene of the shooting contained the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose”, it was deduced, long before Mangione’s arrest, that Thompson’s murder was an act of revenge for a denied insurance claim. (The phrase is interpreted to refer to tactics insurance companies use to avoid paying claims. It is also similar to the title of a book by legal professor Jay Feinman, which was critical of the health insurance industry.) In the aftermath of the killing, some thought that this act, while extreme, would awaken a new wave of class consciousness, as people flooded social apps with their own [grievances against insurance companies](https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/06/business/insurance-claim-denials-unitedhealthcare-ceo/index.html). “Prior authorization is required for thoughts and prayers,” read [one viral post](https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5033590-healthcare-industry-battles-thompson-murder/). But the truth is far from it. Most notably because social media doesn’t have time to wait for answers on how a seemingly privileged, apparently not-quite-conservative-not-quite-liberal tech bro could have allegedly come to murder a top executive. In a world where we’re constantly vying for likes, clicks, and reposts, public opinion often comes swiftly and ruthlessly—even when the reality is far more complex than our preconceived stereotypes will have us believe. **_Read More:_** [_What We Know About Luigi Mangione, Arrested in Connection with UHC CEO Killing_](https://time.com/7200981/luigi-mangione-uhc-ceo-killing/) Mangione doesn’t exactly fit the bill of a cold-blooded killer. He comes from a prominent, wealthy family. He was valedictorian at his elite prep school. He earned undergrad and grad degrees from an Ivy league university. He has [no criminal record](https://time.com/7200981/luigi-mangione-uhc-ceo-killing/). Two of his fraternity brothers at the University of Pennsylvania said he never said anything concerning or extreme. A former classmate told CNN he is a “totally normal guy.” A former roommate described him as “[clearly a thoughtful guy](https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/brian-thompson-luigi-mangione-unitedhealthcare-shooting-12-10-24/index.html).” Among years of Mangione’s Reddit posts, the only mention of an insurance company said an insurer other than Thompson’s—Blue Cross Blue Shield—had actually covered his tests for irritable bowel syndrome, according to the[ _New York Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/11/nyregion/luigi-mangione-assassination-plan-notebook.html). He also apparently [wrote a 4-star Goodreads review](https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2024/12/10/heres-what-luigi-mangione-reportedly-said-about-unabomber-ted-kaczynsk/) of “Industrial Society and Its Future,” a manifesto by Ted Kaczynski, otherwise known as the Unabomber, while also loving _The Lorax_ by Dr. Suess. All of these disjoined facts make Mangione hard to characterize. Is he a nice guy or an extremist? Are his political views on the right or left? We just can’t tell. Perhaps it doesn’t even matter. On many parts of the internet, people have already hand-picked these facts to render a verdict—and Mangione is either a superhero or a villain. The problem is that none of this mythmaking will get us any closer to the truth of what happened or, in fact, what Mangione himself seems to be after: changing our country’s appalling health system. The Internet has always had a voracious appetite for spin. Social media apps are forums where people post hot takes on what’s trending, rather than waiting for all the facts to emerge and considering all sides before arriving at careful conclusions. Everyone’s in competition to come up with the most clever, witty, and even extreme post to stand out among everyone else creating content about the same person—about whom, despite his digital imprint, we understand so very little. This is how the narratives we create on social media often become far from the reality of the situation, especially complex and confounding ones like this. Yet the more people see something repeated, the more they believe it, whether or not it’s true. In psychology, this is known as the “[illusory truth effect.”](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/illusory-truth-effect) As a result, our society’s popular understanding of events can become significantly detached from and even at odds with the facts that eventually emerge. These posts are also unlikely to solve any of the problems with our health care system. As we continue to watch this case unfold, the public has yet to have serious discussions about exactly what we can do to make sure everyone in America who needs healthcare can access it affordably and that their claims aren’t unreasonably denied. Or how to solve the [crippling medical debt](https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/the-burden-of-medical-debt-in-the-united-states/) held by 14 million Americans that forces many of them to cut spending on food, according to KFF polling. True, social media is a place where Americans can lodge our complaints, shout our compliments loudly, and even create community—but in the case of Luigi Mangione, it’s also highly predictable. The Internet has made snap assumptions about what’s happening, oftentimes before we have real answers. We usually also fall short on solutions. Instead of reckoning with why so many Americans don’t have access to the healthcare they need, we make content. But instead of making a meme out of Mangione, it would be a better idea to simply wait and learn. ## Transcript Our intention is to just place a detainer on him once we secure extradition and send him to New York. We do not intend to delay this defendant's extradition to New York, and certainly we vindicated this to New York, their prosecution should take precedence, and then ours will follow. So certainly, our office will communicate with the Manhattan District Attorney's office and each of us communicate with our respective state level governments, and it's the state level governments that work with each other, execute the governor's warrant, which sometimes can take, approximately 30 days plus or minus a little bit. I will say that those wheels have already started moving in this case, so I'm hopeful we can get that accomplished quickly. Blair County charges are still active, we intend on prosecuting them. But we also intend on cooperating with the New York City Police Department of the Manhattan DA's office. We've already indicated to them that we believe their charges take precedent, and we'll do what's necessary to accommodate their prosecution first. This defendant now has two dockets in Blair County. One docket will go away once he is extradited, and that is his fugitive from justice charge. And the judge denied bail on that until obviously the judge makes a ruling on any defense motions, at which time we anticipate the State of New York will be able to collect the defendant. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7201952/luigi-mangione-internet-myths-essay/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7201952/luigi-mangione-internet-myths-essay/"},"headline":"The Internet Missed the Point on Luigi Mangione","datePublished":"2024-12-13T12:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:50:13.873Z","description":"Mythologizing Mangione will not get us any closer to the truth of what happened or what he seems to be after, writes Kara Alaimo.","url":"https://time.com/7201952/luigi-mangione-internet-myths-essay/","keywords":["society","freelance"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6793170648617ad/698b24b2cabb1db8cae5bb9f/luigi-mangione-internet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kara Alaimo","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kara-alaimo/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb6793170648617ad/698b24b2cabb1db8cae5bb9f/luigi-mangione-internet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"luigi-mangione-internet","caption":"Luigi Mangione is escorted by police to his arraignment at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pa., Dec. 9, 2024.","creditText":"Center photo: Rachel Wisniewski—The New York Times/Redux","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/society/","name":"society"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7201952/luigi-mangione-internet-myths-essay/","name":"The Internet Missed the Point on Luigi Mangione"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"UnitedHealthcare CEO Shooting Suspect Contests Extradition Back to New York","description":"The suspect arrested in connection with the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week has been identified as Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from Towson, Maryland.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Nc1I9hz2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2024-12-11T16:30:06.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Nc1I9hz2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/7201952/luigi-mangione-internet-myths-essay/","duration":"PT1M41S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/7201952/luigi-mangione-internet-myths-essay/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```