Video games caused media hysteria again. UnitedHealthcare CEO's killer was to play as assassin in Among Us
The recent murder of the CEO of a major U.S. healthcare company has rocked the Internet. The media began to trace the connection of the case to video games, but the real motivation seems to be more complex.
The internet has been abuzz with news of Luigi Mangione, who is accused of murdering the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. The crime occurred on December 4th, but the suspect was apprehended five days later and from that moment speculation began about his motive. One of the leads is, of course, video games.
"That's very ironic"
The media began to report on Mangione's alleged tendencies, partly due to his interest in gaming. According to NBC, he was part of a "group of gamers who played as assassins." What is it really about? Mangione was supposed to be an avid Among Us player.
The media picked up on this "lead" thanks to one of the suspect's close acquaintances. The individual called the causal connection "very ironic" in an interview with NBC News, and it inspired a wave of online articles linking video games to violent tendencies.
The topic comes up in the media from time to time, and one of the most vocal modern voices on the matter was Donald Trump, who in 2019 blamed video games for mass shootings (quote from Rolling Stone). At that time, Doom came under fire, as the perpetrators were said to be fans of it.
What is the real motive?
However, what drove the 26-year-old to murder was probably not Among Us. Mangione is said to have left a manifesto in which he tried to justify his actions. However, it is difficult to find a credible copy of this document on the internet, and the only one that seems to make sense primarily indicates a rebellion against the unjust and exclusionary practices present in the American healthcare system.
In the quoted manifesto, Mangione describes his frustration with rising costs and corporate greed, also emphasizing inequalities in access to healthcare. He also criticizes the influence of large companies (like UnitedHealthcare) on citizens' lives. The issues he wrote about have been the subject of intense debate and social criticism in the United States for years, but haven't yet been resolved to the satisfaction of the American society.
Unabomber of the 21st century?
Articles devoted to the case also frequently feature Mangione's interest in the activities of Ted Kaczynski, better known to the world as the Unabomber. He was the author of an anti-technology manifesto in which he criticized modern society and the impact of technology on the world.
However, this man was above all a terrorist - in the second half of the twentieth century, he carried out several terrorist attacks, which were supposed to be a radical form of opposition to technological progress and its impact on the fate of the world.
However, it's difficult to determine exactly what prompted Mangione to take such drastic actions. A mix of his beliefs, frustrations, and inspirations comes into play here, but one thing is certain - video games have nothing to do with it (especially not Among Us). Blaming them in such situations is a harmful oversimplification, and trying to link one with the other doesn't help to understand the real causes of such tragedies or to prevent them in the future.