The allegory of Luigi Mangione

Explaining why Luigi is the most not-guilty person ever.

You’re not at home. It’s midnight. Your wife is sleeping. You get a notification on your cell phone about a knock on the door. You open your doorbell camera app. You find a guy who seems innocent enough: he’s kind of funny, not very muscular, and seems relatively normal. He asks if your wife is at home. You’re given only two options:

• If you say she’s at home, you’re honest. You’re also ignorant to the risks.

• Or, if you say she’s not at home you understand the relative value of “truth.” Congratulations. Maybe you know a little something about this guy, or you can predict how this will play out.

You’re honest. You say she’s at home. Enter a gang of armed thugs. You didn’t know his history. You didn’t know the beast. Turns out this was the guy at the door. And now you’re F-U-C-K-ed.

You know what’s going to happen. The threat is real. Society hasn’t dealt with it thus far. The risk was always present. It’s your families turn to deal with it and suffer the trauma.

Deus ex Luigina

But then you get a second notification on the app. It’s another knock on the door. It’s an alien, hailing from space. They landed on your front lawn. They’ve got cooler weapons. They’re looking for a human — a galactic fugitive named Fred. They know there are two people in the house. They ask you of the other person, “is that Fred?” You’re given only two options:

• “Yes” and maybe your wife is safe. Nothing is certain…

• Or, “No” and you know what to expect.

I can tell you one thing: I’m not cucking for Bill Cosby, regardless of him being a member of the same species. There is no solidarity. Today he is “Fred” and tomorrow I’ve got better things to do than concern myself with things I said in defense of family.

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Spelling it out, the tldr

Every sane decent person is willing to lie to a Nazi that knocks on the door. Ergo you’re only telling me something about myself. However, if you’re presented with the ability to lie to someone else (viz. a third-party like a judge, jury, or executioner) to stop the Nazi from knocking on other doors in the future, you ought to take it. When you find yourself at the cross roads between justice and truthieness, choose justice. And loudly. You may not get another chance.

This has nothing to do with Luigi Mangione’s case. He absolutely 110% did NOT kill anyone whatsoever. I will say so with total certainty and swear on every holy book. The evidence simply favors no other conclusion.