Less than two weeks after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down on the streets of midtown Manhattan, his alleged assassin Luigi Mangione has been greeted not by universal condemnation for the brazen violence – but rather, a surge of enthusiastic support online for his so-called vigilante justice.

The Center for Internet Security (CIS), a nonprofit focused on cybersecurity that partners with government and law enforcement, released a new threat assessment bulletin warning that online support for the alleged shooter risks encouraging copycat attacks.

“Overwhelming bipartisan support for the attack” across social media “has resulted in several narratives encouraging similar violent activities directed at other healthcare executive teams,” CIS analysts said.

“The narratives supporting Mangione’s targeted attack likely serve to encourage like-minded individuals, particularly as Mangione continues to be viewed by the public as an ‘American hero’ and sympathetic figure,” CIS’ bulletin said.

  • 2pt_perversion@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    I haven’t seen anyone encouraging or even so much as hinting that a copycat should target police or courts. Feels like something made up to try to drive a wedge between the bipartisan support by splintering off “back the blue” type of people.

    • MisterD@lemmy.ca
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      6 days ago

      This is it. Do not do class war. The rich want you to fight amongst yourselves

      • futatorius@lemm.ee
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        5 days ago

        The class war has been going on since time immemorial and we aren’t winning. But when you recognize that fact and talk about rebellion, some people get all upset.

  • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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    6 days ago

    I mean, remember defund the police?

    That movement fully targeted cops.

    This one is targeting the ruling class, and cops are worried.

    It’s like that moment when you criticize a bad thing (like selfishness) and out of nowhere someone gets offended; they are basically telling on themselves.

    • kreskin@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      That movement fully targeted cops.

      I think if youd look into it you’d find its the protestors who were targetted. Not the cops.

  • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Let’s compare:

    Osama Bin Ladin/Brian Robert Thompson

    Number killed by own hands: 0/0

    Number killed through orders to underlings: 3,000/51,000

    Reason for killings: religious and geopolitical reasons/profit motive

    Cause of death: execution by gunshot/execution by gunshot

    Date of trial for killings: N/A / N/A

    Date of issue of death sentence for killings: N/A / N/A

    Response to killing: celebration by US president on national TV, celebration by commoners and elites / celebration by commoners, condemnation by elite.

    Consequence to assassins for extra-judicial slaying: national praise / indicted for 2nd degree murder

    Race and class: weird Arab guy in traditional garb / rich white man in a a suit

      • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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        About 68,000 Americans die each year from improper denials of necessary care. With UHC’s share of the private health insurance market and higher than average denial of claims, a conservative figure is 40 UHC customers per day dying from denial of care. Brian Robert Thompson served as the CEO of UHC for approximately 3.5 years. That comes to about 51,000 people dead at the hands of Brian Robert Thompson.

        Is it fair to pin all of UHC’s murders on one man? Maybe not. But he gleefully took credit for the record profits that came from UHC’s soaring denial rates. He earned an obscene salary and bonuses from the record profits that those deaths produced. He took credit for all the consequences of these deaths; it is entirely reasonable to hold him morally culpable for them.

        Make no mistake. Brian Robert Thompson killed approximately 51,000 people, or about 17 times as many people as Osama Bin Ladin. Brian Robert Thompson suffered for seconds. Osama Bin Ladin’s victims suffered for about an hour. Brian Robert Thompson’s victims suffered for months to years. And this is just deaths, not those who suffered injury, debilitation, or bankruptcy at Brian Robert Thompson’s hands.

        • nimble@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          7 days ago

          Thank you. I have been very interested in a number of attributable deaths, and the comparison is an added bonus

          • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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            7 days ago

            I would say “my pleasure,” but this brings me none. It’s not a perfect estimate, but it is a reasonable first order one. The real number is likely somewhere between 30k and 70k. But really, at this scale, the numbers lose all meaning.

            Luigi Mangione did not have the right to serve as Thompon’s one man judge, jury, and executioner. But make no mistake, according to all available evidence, Brian Robert Thompson was a mass murderer an order of magnitude worse than Osama Bin Ladin. When he hit the pavement on that New York morning, he did not stop falling. He kept falling, and falling, and falling. Right into the Pit of Hell itself. If there is a Hell behind this mortal realm, he is almost certainly burning there right now.

            • futatorius@lemm.ee
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              5 days ago

              Luigi Mangione did not have the right to serve as Thompon’s one man judge, jury, and executioner.

              So what does a person do when the system is so corrupt and compromised that it will never deliver justice in cases like this? Write a strongly worded letter to your local paper?

  • Alteon@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Oh, lol…they think people are only going to target other healthcare CEO’s? That’s fucking adorable.

    • LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Hoping our boi Luigi set the stage for a revolution to finally start. Idk what I can do to fight the good fight other than to continue to be loud about all this shit.

      • markon@lemmy.world
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        At least the more of us are loud the safer each of us are. So free Luigi and may the proles get a little something without society collapsing. Either way it’s definitely a good show…

  • SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today
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    7 days ago

    Oh come off it already.
    Yeah we all agree shooting people is wrong.
    But just about everyone in the general public more or less agrees Thompson had it coming. We’ve all dealt with scummy insurance companies.
    Playing up the threat at this point seems like an obvious psyop. And it’s not even being done well.

    That I’ve seen, nobody, anywhere, at all, has suggested targeting police or courts. This has been solely framed as a class war between the rank and file citizens of the nation and a very small number (10-25) of CEOs whose companies destroy lives every day. There is no anger with cops or the courts.

  • Nosavingthrow@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    God, the police are so fucking coddled. “This shit that has nothing to do with police? A threat to police.” Anytbing to direct more funding to these fucking babies.

    • Ænima@lemm.ee
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      6 days ago

      They’re LARPers with a gun; licensed to use real fire bolts against the masses.

  • Allonzee@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    It would be both sad and pointless if people targeted the owner’s capital defense force thugs (police) and bribed middle managers (judges/politicians).

    That would muddy the waters needlessly and further the cause of the owner class of keeping us at each other’s throats.

    Our oligarchs whole thing is keeping us hostile towards one another. They don’t care who kills who, kids killing kids, cops killing poor, poor killing cops/judges/politicians, all livestock killing livestock to them, big woop. They only freak out when someone they consider a person is killed, there’s only 1 metric that determines that for them, and even most of their bought politicians don’t qualify on net worth.

  • KinglyWeevil@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    6 days ago

    Haven’t judges in general been extremely gentle with prosecutions involving Trump because of inordinate numbers of threats made to judges? And yet there’s no effort made to stop it? And somehow, this represents an existential threat to the courts?

  • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    7 days ago

    Welp, its officially in. Anyone who sympathizes with Luigi is officially deemed a terrorist.

    Soon, some senator will announce that he/she has a list of suspected communists terrorists who sympathize with Luigi Mangione. This will the know as the Red Scare Green Scare. Mentioning the term “Green Mario” would be a death sentence.

    Super Mario Bros will be deemed as terrorist propaganda, and any related media would be confiscated. There would be no-knock searches carried out across the nation, many will be shot in the process.

    If you are reading this, your are already on their list. If you are reading this, you are the resistance…

    • Waraugh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      6 days ago

      Hell Elons mom jumped in line as far as I’m concerned. The spoiled rich are so god damn detached from reality. I never imagined I’d be ok with mass murder but here we are.

  • x0chi@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    I wonder how many Luigis the 2nd trump presidency will create. I hope a lot. Call me whatever you want…

    • Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      5 days ago

      I mean, I’d only call you an accelerationist if you advocated for a second Trump president because that’s what you wanted. There’s a difference between predicting/speculating and acting to make something a reality.

      Edit: apparently people think that thinking something will happen is the same as thinking that it should happen.

      Edit 2: accelerationism is bad, and anyone who thinks otherwise is either an idiot or fascist.