cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/20278273
This is a great article written by Robert Evans of ‘Behind the Bastards’ fame that goes into Luigi’s background, social media presence, and apparent ideologies.
We all have had patients with chronic pain, we all know someone with chronic pain, and some of us unfortunately have chronic pain. We know how horrible it can make someone’s life, and how much worse life can be if your insurance just keeps denying anything that could help.
Edit: Here’s a link to what is most likely the real manifesto: https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/luigis-manifesto
Ken Klippenstein is a very reliable journalist and this version of the manifesto contains the snippets that have been released by law enforcement. Also, considering the thing was hand-written, that very long version involving his mom is dubious. (And there’s not any good evidence that his mom is in anything besides decent/good health)
I think this is an important point to consider, but the emphasis is being shifted when it really shouldn’t - yes, pain is hell, and it makes life hard, even unbearable, but you know what radicalises pain patients? The brick walls we hit and slaps in the face we get at every turn when desperately seeking help and support from a system and institutions based on so many levels of bias and discrimination and exclusion (capitalism, ableism, sexism, racism, classism, queerphobia, fatphobia and on and on), designed to keep us out of sight and out of mind. Being dismissed as “hysterical”, a liar, a drug seeker, a lazy burden, a scrounger, fat, “uncooperative” (like when autistic people struggle to make eye contact, or in too much pain and trauma to communicate calmly). Being locked up, institutionalised, or just completely ignored. Being told it’s “too expensive” to provide us with quality of life, but rather encouraged to be “assisted” in disposing of ourselves instead, or doing it for us with lack of funding and support.
Yeah, being marginalised radicalises you, but not because of who you are, but because of the systems of oppression designed to marginalise you, which others simply have the privilege of not being directly impacted by (which in far too many cases results in not even believing they exist, which of course serves to maintain them).
It doesn’t just marginalize a person, it backs them against a wall with no certainty of an improved future. “Nothing to lose” mentality is different when someone in his alleged position has no perceived future, and has few options to impact any of that.
In line with what you are saying, I believe that it should be a centerpiece of the current conversation to address the “just world theory”, especially in the context of corporate-managed healthcare. For Luigi, and for any human walking around in America today, we’re one bad/unlucky injury away from ending up in the “discard pile”, especially if our insurance drags their heels and uses the Deny, Delay, Defend playbook. In the “just world theory”, there’s some unconscious belief that people are disabled or damaged or broken or wrong (in the eyes of a heavily discriminatory society) deserved it somehow, and if one is virtuous enough, eats a good diet, gets exercise, etc etc…that won’t happen to them.
This is a perfect case study. Luigi was probably pretty comfortable and pretty insulated from the hell that is the corporate healthcare system in America…until he had an unlucky injury that changed his life forever. You don’t even have to be doing something vaguely risky like surfing. You can end up with a severe injury that will leave you in chronic, unbearable pain for the rest of your life if some drunk driver runs a red light and slams into your car. There are some absolutely revolting people who will then spout some nonsense about your misery and pain being “part of God’s plan”, but they’d probably change their tune once it’s their spine being bolted back together.
Empathy is a scarce commodity these days, and we’re going to need to foster the growth of a whole hell of a lot more of it if we want to keep this spark alive.
Yup, I actually included a couple of lines about how anyone can become part of at least one marginalised group in the blink of an eye, but it didn’t make the cut.
I also refer to the Just world fallacy often, it has an absolutely massive over presence in our society, in large part due to organised religion (and not just the big 3, either), but it is absolutely fostered by the capitalist state too because it recognises just how powerful a tool it is at keeping people loyal and shifting blame to those oppressed by the system rather than the system itself.
And I also agree with your conclusion, though I think it’s less about general empathy (which can be so easily manipulated, as we can see by the numbers of poor people who empathise with the rich they’ve been convinced they might one day become), and more about building solidarity among working class people in spite of the division being sown by those with all the power, who invest large amounts of it in to preventing us doing exactly that, in fear of the power we hold if we do.
I don’t think the poor people have empathy for rich people, rather I think it’s a jealousy problem or a self-serving attitude. They’re convinced that they’ll hit it big one day and they don’t want to pay a bunch of taxes when they’re the billionaire. It’s this perversion of the American dream in which people think of themselves as “temporarily disgraced m/billionaires” and of course they’re going to become fabulously wealthy…somehow…any day now…
Right, which leads to their empathy going to the rich, rather than with their own class.
It’s why the whole “temporarily embarrassed millionaire” construct exists in the first place - to manipulate enough of the working class to act against their own interests.
“Jealousy problem or a self-serving attitude” are a result of masses of propaganda and indoctrination (E: and the inequality baked in to the system) designed precisely to that end, not a natural state of being some people just posses.
Thanks for sharing, I’ve been looking for more details on what the healthcare context / medical condition was (if it’s the case that he did it)
The other manifesto that was going around claimed that his mother suffered from neuropathy, but that one has been outed as being fake
Here’s a link to the most credible version of the manifesto we have: https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/luigis-manifesto
Ken Klippenstein is a very reliable journalist and this version contains the snippets that have been released by law enforcement. Also, considering the thing was hand-written, that very long version involving his mom is dubious. (And there’s not any good evidence that his mom is in anything besides decent/good health)
