Hello comrades. In the interest of upholding our code of conduct - specifically, rule 1 (providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all) - we felt it appropriate to make a statement regarding the lionization of Luigi Mangione, the alleged United Healthcare CEO shooter, also known as “The Adjuster.”

In the day or so since the alleged shooter’s identity became known to the public, the whole world has had the chance to dig though his personal social media accounts and attempt to decipher his political ideology and motives. What we have learned may shock you. He is not one of us. He is a “typical” American with largely incoherent, and in many cases reactionary politics. For the most part, what is remarkable about the man himself is that he chose to take out his anger on a genuine enemy of the proletariat, instead of an elementary school.

This is a situation where the art must be separated from the artist. We do not condemn the attack, but as a role model, Luigi Mangione falls short. We do not expect perfection from revolutionary figures either, but we expect a modicum of revolutionary discipline. We expect them not simply to identify an unpopular element of society hitler-detector , but to clearly illuminate the causes of oppression and the means by which they are overcome. When we canonize revolutionary figures, we are holding them up as an example to be followed.

This is where things come back to rule 1. Mangione has a long social media history bearing a spectrum of reactionary viewpoints, and interacting positively with many powerful reactionary figures. While some commenters have referred to this as “nothing malicious,” by lionizing this man we effectively deem this behavior acceptable, or at the very least, safe to ignore. This is the type of tailism which opens the door to making a space unsafe for marginalized people.

We’re going to be more strict on moderating posts which do little more than lionize the shooter. There is plenty to be said about the unfolding events, the remarkably positive public reaction, how public reactions to “propaganda of the deed” may have changed since the historical epoch of its conception (and how the strategic hazards might not have), and many other aspects of the news without canonizing this man specifically. We can still dance on the graves of our enemies and celebrate their rediscovered fear and vulnerability without the vulgar revisionism needed to pretend this man is some sort of example of Marxist or Anarchist practice.

  • glans [it/its]@hexbear.net
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    5 hours ago

    why was my post about luigi’s github removed? it says “rule 1” so i guess it has to do with this.

    i didn’t “lionize” him i simply noted that a lot of people have followed him etc. i did not voice any opinion on this and in fact i don’t even have an opinion on it. it’s just a fact of reality.

    • hello_hello [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      5 hours ago

      Hi I’m the mod who removed your post. Sorry for confusing you, it was the on-topic rule of the libre community that I based my removal on. libre is a slower paced comm so don’t feel pressured to post there.

      I think your post is better suited for other comms like chapo, technology, or even just the megathread.

      • glans [it/its]@hexbear.net
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        4 hours ago

        ok thanks fair enough I wasn’t sure where to put it. I have been trying to not just post everything in chapo to be contributing to the other communities. but if in this case or maybe all cases that could be wrong.

        rat-salute

    • Hermes [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      5 hours ago

      I think that was “rule 1” of the libre community, meaning the mod thought your post was off topic. Which, if you look at the description of the comm, I am inclined to agree with.