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.
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.