After the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson York last week, social media lit up not with shock and horror, but something more akin to joy. “This needs to be the new norm,” posted one X user, “EAT THE RICH.” “My only question is did the CEO of United Healthcare die quickly or over several months waiting to find out if his insurance would cover his treatment for the fatal gunshot wound?” posted another. The glee with which many people online responded to the news of the killing shocked the consciences of politicians and pundits alike. History may offer an explanation, Politico reports..In 1959., Marxist scholar Eric Hobsbawm introduced the concept of "social banditry." Social bandits were sometimes fictional, sometimes real figures who operated outside of the law and were widely revered for their efforts to mete out justice in an unjust world — like Robin Hood, the legendary English outlaw who lived in Sherwood Forest and, with his band of Merry Men, “stole from the rich and gave to the poor.”
Hobsbawm’s theory, which historians continue to debate, rested on a Marxian analysis of power and economic relationships in agrarian societies, with bandits (or the idea of bandits) providing a form of resistance in the face of rampant inequality. such characters transcended different geographies and times, ranging from the fictional Robin Hood in 14th century England, to brutally violent, real-life outlaws like Jesse James and Billy the Kid in the post-Civil War era U.S. to Pancho Villa in early 20th century Mexico. In New York, much of the Thompson killer's performative flair is reminiscent of the social bandits of old: Thompson’s shooter left clues about his motive on bullet casings, concealed his face with a mask and dropped a backpack stuffed with Monopoly money before zipping away on a bicycle. And when police arrested 26-year-old Luigi Mangione in connection with the killing, he was allegedly carrying a manifesto. While law enforcement is still investigating his motives, it, it seems clear that he was trying to send some kind of social message through the attack.