I’m supposed to be on vacation this week, but I am sure one or more of my colleagues will tear apart CNN for it decision to feature, in a prime-time show supposedly focusing upon disinformation, an interview with independent* journalist Taylor Lorenz in which she argues that Luigi Mangione, who shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in the back, is “a person that seems like this morally good man, which is hard to find.”
No, Mangione is not a morally good man. Lorenz herself swoons, “You’re going to see women especially that feel like, Oh my God, right? Like, here’s this man who’s revolutionary, who’s famous, who’s handsome, who is young, who’s smart.”
CNN has a severely damaged reputation among conservatives and Trump voters. We periodically hear that the network wants to rebuild trust among that demographic and become a trusted news source for both sides. Well, whatever efforts have been made in that direction are completely undermined by the asinine decision to air this; this is like trying to build a new structure on the side of a mountain during a landslide.
Forget Lorenz; she is what she is and there’s no indication she’s ever going to change; she thrives on outrage as much as any other outrageous social media personality. No, let’s focus on CNN’s decision to feature her in this program.
First… isn’t the phenomenon of women swooning over Mangione kind of… old news? The shooting was in early December, the first court appearance with his cheering fangirls outside was in February. Why is CNN telling us all about this in… mid-April?
Second, was Lorenz featured as an interview subject as an analyst of the phenomenon of women swooning over a murderer, or as an example of it? Because she sure as heck sounds like the latter. (Not the first time, either.)
Third, did it never cross the mind of CNN that maybe the contention that Mangione is a good man deserved some pushback? All host Donie O’Sullivan says is, “yeah, I just realized women will literally date an assassin before they swipe right on me. That’s where we’re at.”
The notion that a man who shoots another man in the back, whether it’s in the name of class warfare or complaints about the American health care system, is an admirable and desirable man is not only completely morally wrongheaded. Showcasing gushing praise for it on prime time cable news is a recipe for more political and social violence. What do you think will happen when you tell the nation’s mentally-unwell, angry, lonely and socially awkward young men that the way to get lots of women intensely attracted to you is to assassinate some CEO?
*Lorenz is independent because she had a rift with her editors at the Washington Post over a social media post calling Joe Biden a war criminal and then in December Vox chose to not renew her program.