(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Luigi Mangione is the Daniel Penny of Ted Kaczynskis [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-12-09 Darn that wokeism and its “mind disease”. Thompson was killed Wednesday morning, and police were looking for Mangione for five days. His social media profiles muddy the waters in regard to his personal politics and motive. His X account is full of posts about the future of AI, tech, altruism, and complaints about wokeism, and his header contains an image of the injury that may have possibly radicalized him. His Goodreads contains more left-leaning selections like The Lorax and Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry . He also reviewed the Unabomber’s book, writing that “when all other forms of communication fail, violence is necessary to survive. You may not like his methods, but to see things from his perspective, it’s not terrorism, it’s war and revolution.” His high school’s valedictorian, Mangione went on to study at University of Pennsylvania, where he acquired a master of science in engineering and a bachelor of science in engineering degree in computer science. More details from the manifesto have yet to be released, but the two lines may confirm what many suspected were the shooter’s personal vendetta against the health care company. Mangione, 26, from Baltimore County, Maryland, was taken into custody at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s on Monday. Mangione was found with a gun similar to the one used in Thompson’s killing, several fake IDs, and the aforementioned manifesto. Luigi Mangione , the man apprehended Monday on suspicion of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was found with a manifesto on his person. Two lines in the manifesto read, “These parasites had it coming” and “I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done,” according to CNN’s John Miller. He was recognized by an employee at the fast food restaurant, who called local police, she said. Responding law enforcement officers questioned Mangione, who was "acting suspiciously." In April, he posted that “modern Japanese urban environment is an evolutionary mismatch for the human animal. The solution to falling birthdates isn’t immigration. It’s cultural.” He reshared another video from June of Republican megadonor Peter Thiel talking about people with Asperger’s running start-ups. He reposted a pseudo-motivational quote, “Netflix, door dash, and true crime podcasts have stolen more dreams than failure ever will.” And he reposted several messages railing against “wokeism.” His X account is rife with mostly right-leaning, slightly nihilistic, tech bro-y takes concerning AI, mental health, altruism, ancient history, and society in general. Mangione follows Ezra Klein, Sam Altman, AOC, Edward Snowden, and Robert F. Kennedy, among others. What is the aim of Dark MAGA? Many people reading about the latest development in right-wing extremist aesthetics might think little of it or find it laughable – after all, Dark MAGA attempts to make a septuagenarian former President look cool and edgy. The problem with this reaction is that it both writes off the movement as fundamentally unserious – which it is not – and allows for further amplification by journalists and others who cover Dark MAGA as light news. The first goal of Dark MAGA is to gain attention. In order to achieve its later objectives, it needs to be boosted into the mainstream. The most reliable way to do this is to garner media coverage. Part of the reason that the Dark MAGA aesthetic and narrative are simultaneously extreme and silly, is because this is a tried and tested mechanism for getting that kind of attention. The goal of those promoting Dark MAGA is partly to unify the disparate alt-right under a new banner, and partly to launder much more sinister and extreme narratives and iconography into the MAGA movement, thus introducing more mainstream conservatives to the ideas, imagery and people who populate white nationalist and accelerationist movements. As Stall and Grober put it, “Neo-Nazi iconography sits squarely next to red MAGA hats and Odinistic depictions of Donald Trump.” This attempt to create a more radicalised umbrella movement is further evidenced by the sheer range of thinkers, memes and movements referenced among Dark MAGA content. Stall and Grober found references to the ‘Nazi canon’ (such as founder of the American Nazi Party George Lincoln Rockwell, SIEGE author and accelerationist James Mason, and fascist icon Julius Evola), the ‘Nazi periphery’ (Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and Russian Traditionalist Alexander Dugin) and the ‘far-right blogosphere’ (Bronze Age Pervert, Curtis Yarvin and Nick Land). The exposure of wider audiences to these thinkers’ ideas is deeply concerning, particularly given their inspiration of acts of mass violence. James Mason’s SIEGE is the foundational text for Atomwaffen and related neo-Nazi terrorist groups. Bronze Age Pervert appears to have been an influence on the recent Denver mass shooting. George Lincoln Rockwell is idolised by contemporary Nazis, and Julius Evola’s book ‘Revolt Against the Modern World’ is a crucial text in esoteric fascism. www.isdglobal.org/... 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