Luigi Mangione reemerges as a symbol of anger against California insurers

the name of luigi mangione has come up frequently in recent days in social media user discussions about the fires ravaging Southern California.

Many, angered by State Farm’s decision last summer to cancel hundreds of homeowners policies in some of the neighborhoods now ravaged by fires, look to the 26-year-old as the kind of avenger they wish would punish the companies. insurance companies that have cut coverage. throughout the state.

news week He contacted State Farm for comment via email Friday morning.

Why is it important

The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4, and the online adulation of Mangione that followed revealed the depth of Americans’ anger against health insurance companies in the country.

Mangione, whose appearance has been praised on social media, has become something of a questionable folk hero, with people online hailing him as a symbol of justified violence against the perceived predatory behavior of insurance companies operating in the United States health system.

Its re-emergence now against the backdrop of widespread outrage online over reports of cancellations and non-renewals by State Farm and other insurers in California would suggest that the US property insurance sector could soon become the subject of a heated public debate.

What to know

Several major insurers operating in California have cut coverages since 2022, especially in the highest risk areas.

State Farm, the Golden State’s largest home insurer, 72,000 policies were canceled in the state until the summer30,000 of which were homes. In Pacific Palisades, a neighborhood that was devastated by the Palisades Fire that started Tuesday morning and was only 6 percent contained as of Friday morning, State Farm canceled 1,626 policies.

The company cited rising costs and catastrophe exposure as the main reason behind a decision it was “reluctant” to make, saying it was necessary to maintain claims-paying ability for its California customers. Last year, State Farm requested a 30 percent rate increase for its line of homeowners, a 52 percent rate increase for renters and a 36 percent rate increase for condo owners in the Golden State to match the increasing risk of wildfires.

Premium increases in the state must be approved by the California Department of Insurance (CDI), a requirement intended to protect owners from sudden, massive increases.

But State Farm’s decision, while justified by the company’s commitment to maintaining coverage for some policyholders, left many homeowners in the state struggling to find insurance at a time when it is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive. .

in a comment to news week Earlier this week, a State Farm spokesperson said, “Our number one priority right now is the safety of our customers, agents and employees affected by the fires and helping our customers in the midst of this tragedy.”

Looking for the ‘Luigi Mangione style’

State Farm’s move last summer has sparked much anger since the fires began this week.

“The fact that State Farm removed its fire policies for certain zip codes in California weeks or months before the fire occurred is incredible,” wrote content creator @stoppfeenin on X, where he has more than 108.5 thousand followers . “People are left without means to rebuild or access to financial support. Now I understand Luigi Mangione.”

“Who is the CEO of State Farm?” wrote another user on the social media platform, sharing a photo of Mangione.

“Did State Farm cancel thousands of CA insurance policies before the fires? Palisades and other homeowners should look to Luigi Mangione’s path,” one X user wrote on the platform, sharing an image of Batman and Mangione’s face.

A popular anti-insurance hero

“The fires in the Los Angeles area are devastating. We do not yet know the full extent of the destruction, specifically the loss of life and property, and it will be some time before we know the full extent,” said Dr. Julianna Kirschner, professor at the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, said news week.

“With the understandable confusion and anxiety people are experiencing, many users are spending time on social media to share or gather information and comment on the fires,” he added.

While Mangione “has remained a constant figure in memes and other viral content” since December, Kirschner said, in recent days his image has been associated with users’ messages about the fires.

“Mangione has become a figurehead in the online discourse about insurance companies, which has now expanded from the context of healthcare to home and renters insurance,” he explained.

“Some California residents have had trouble obtaining insurance coverage in recent years, and many who live in fire-prone areas have limited or no options. Users of platforms like X have been commenting on this situation, and the most common theme of these “Posts have expressed anger against insurance companies and their practices in California,” Kirschner said.

“Mangione’s image has been a consistent visual way to communicate that message.”

According to Kirschner, Mangione’s image “is so intertwined with anti-insurance sentiment that he has become a popular hero on social media platforms, because users align themselves with Mangione’s well-known distaste for insurance companies and their tendency to deny claims.”

For certain communities on social media, Kirschner said, Mangione has become a familiar image, “a kind of protector.”

“His face has been photoshopped with religious iconography, so deifying him online isn’t a stretch. In fact, Mangione has become so representative of anti-insurance rhetoric that users no longer need to include written comments when they post an image or message. Mangione meme. The image communicates the feeling on its own and many users have posted this way in recent days,” he explained.

What people say

Dr. Cliff Lampe, professor of information and associate dean of academic affairs at the University of Michigan School of Information, said news week: “With Mangione’s publications, we are seeing a form of publication related to a broader social dissatisfaction with the status quo.

“With increased income inequality and at least a perceived sense of lack of agency around corporate power, people are turning to expressions on social media to let off steam and engage in flexible dialogue on social issues. Through humorous posts black, expressions of admiration, sarcasm, and other With forms of rhetoric, people are reconstructing a sense of agency in reacting to their personal audiences.”

Susan Campbell, distinguished professor in the Department of Communications, Film and Media Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of New Haven, said news week: “People like Luigi Mangione become folk heroes when they feel powerless in the face of systems they believe have failed them. The health insurance industry has let so many people down, and then this young man stands up to shoot one of the leaders of the industry.

“Life is more complicated than that, but we seem to only see it in retrospect. Bonnie and Clyde achieved folk hero status because they seemed like winners at a time when everyone else was losing, at least financially. There’s no amount of slavishly positive media. The coverage could change that at heart, they were just bank robbers who killed people. The same goes for the James gang, other popular heroes of yesteryear.

As of Friday morning, the Palisades Fire, which has burned about 20,000 acres, was 8 percent contained; the Eaton Fire, which has spread to 13,000 acres, was out of control; the Kenneth Fire, which covered 1,000 acres, was 35 percent contained; the Hurst Fire, which burned through 800 acres, was 37 percent contained; and the Lidia Fire, which has burned 400 acres, was 75 percent contained.

Estimates of the economic losses caused by the fire already run into the tens of billions, but the full extent of the damage will only become clear after all the fires have been contained.

What’s next?

According to Kirschner, the anger that users have been expressing on platforms such as

Lampe, on the other hand, believes that no real action will be taken after Mangione’s memes were shared online. “One of the problems with this type of online expression is whether it merges with some other form of action, whether collective or personal,” he said.

“Over the last twenty years, we have seen posts like this turn into different types of protests, as seen with Occupy Wall Street 15 years ago, or BLM 5 years ago. More often than not, however, we see the venting never happen. materialize in any other form of action and simply remain as a kind of online relief,” Lampe explained.

Campbell believes that in the end, while the angry moments Mangione cites may express the frustration Americans truly feel about the way insurance companies work, this is not the way to create change.

“Many of our systems are broken right now, but in the end, not to be preachy, our energy would be better spent working to reclaim power from the systems we feel have failed us, not holding back people who break the law . as a kind of role model or hero,” he said.