Luigi’s Holy Grail: How to Radicalise A Good Student
Holding against the beam light, Luigi thrashed his head back. Police K9 pressed firm on his body, and his eyes looked calm like the blackest water under the deepest abyss, no sense, or if any sense, a sense of radical currents.
The 26 year old became famous, or if you would rather say, infamous, overnight, as the former UPenn student assassinated the UnitedHealth CEO in a random morning in December. He went in a now sold-out military green jacket, used a 3-D printed pistol, and scurried off in a shared bike. How cool? Zelensky wished he could be idolised like this. Luigi’s fairly good-looking face and body were inalienable to his murder thrilled movie-like stardom. What’s more, it all came with a rare seen civilian responsibility that is lacking in the United States or anywhere in the world now. People applauded him to be the Gen-Z Robinhood. Indeed, man did the thing they don’t dare. He did not just murder someone for fun like those Manson Family. He took a symbolic shot at the rotten medical history of the United States.
As of today, Luigi-inspired memecoin $LUIGI stands at $24m market cap.
My purpose today is not to add more allure to the young sir. If every of his fan girl blows a kiss to the air, the Earth would’ve been overheated by now. Reading his Goodreads sends me chills, as we may trace how an IVY trained blue-blooded engineer gradually became “radicalised”. I am not sure how one may comment on the word “radicalised”, as I have grown to acquaint many and much “radical” work across cultures. One can see that from 2020 onwards, his reading list turned much more hardlined, digging deep into the nature of society and violence.
In his now explosive comment under Industrial Society and Its Future of Ted Kacynski, he claimed “when all other forms of communication fails, violence is necessary”. The sentence stands nowhere debatable by nature yet humongously debatable in reality. Who are the people that once said similar things? We can name a few, Washington, Lincoln, Luther King, Marx, Mao. For those that are not familiar with the Middle East, I can also tell you Sayyid Qutb, Ali Shariati, Khomeini, and Al Qaeda. And more, Hamas, Israel, you name it.
Luigi’s unverified letter of intent is now called his “manifesto”. Last time a work is called “manifesto”, i.e., a declaration of intention, is the swooping Communist Manifesto. For Americans, such manifesto-inspired waves do not sound pleasant as the country was once so haunted by the fear of the Red. In China, this would be considered the foundation of power, as Mao vehemently stated, “power comes from the barrel of a gun”. Mao’s saying wasn’t whimsical; the gun was a gun to protect and survive, not to invade. It was during a period where the opposite KMT violently suppressed the young CCP in 1920s. Mao’s survival tactic ultimately won him a country.
Besides, the Declaration of Independence is also one world renowned manifesto. When we speak of this manifesto, we connect to the idea of democracy, freedom, liberty, personal property rights, among many angelic ideals. Don’t forget, whether it’s the Declaration or later MLK’s I Have A Dream, none were Ghandi’s non-violence movement. In fact, the armed force behind these famous documents were very violent. 25,000-70,000 people died for the War of Independence, and MLK’s death sparked more civil unrests in 1968.
Such violence was justified in history as necessary, and indeed it was. Nonetheless, history is written by the winners, hence necessary evil is also called survival.
While I plunge into Luigi’s book list, Sayyid Qutb comes to my mind. My 7-year Middle Eastern studies made me familiar with the teachings of various “interpretations” of the Qur’an. The Prophet took up arms and called for arms to spread God’s messages. Qur’an is not a book of the silent, but carry both olive branches and Arabian swords. God’s nation is built by both kebab rice and martyrs.
Qutb was hanged in 1966 in Cairo. When he was alive, he was offered any position he wanted in Nasser’s government and he refused all on the basis that he wanted a truly Islamic government. The relationship between him and Nasser quickly soured, and man was tortured in prison, but he continued to shape his philosophy even being physically confined. Having formerly studied in the US, Qutb was flabbergasted by the American materialism and superficiality. To truly find internal and societal peace, he advocated a God-governed caliphate. To do so, and to save for the means since materialism, colonialism, and the complicated history were ever encroaching the “existence” of Islam, violence is permitted and should be encouraged when necessary.
His untimely death did not stop the spread of his Jihadist idea. Just like how Lenin and Mao alike based their fight on the philosophy of Karl Marx, Khomeini and Khamenei certainly studied the gist and understood that power came from arm. During the years being ousted, Khomeini power.
Today, when one goes to Khomeini’s nation, one can see how the joyous Persians are rather numbed by awry Islamic “ideal”. Iran as a nation was born out of then “radicalised” idea, yet the idea itself probably considers itself orthodox. It is conforming to a divine ideal, however interpretation it goes by. The other case of a country born out of “radicalised’ idea may be my home country China. The CCP before 1949 was a bunch of radicals and “red gangs” that were considered illiterate rascals by the then ruling party, very bourgeoisie US-backed KMT. Nevertheless, CCP proved to be way beyond rascals since the core members including Mao were extremely well read and well versed. Until today, many still adore Mao’s literary sharpness and verbal vision in fighting the external and internal war. Despite of being criticised for his later Stalin-like purge during the Cultural Revolution and being authoritarian, few would argue against his sheer talents and mighty means.
These names might be a little too farfetched for the young Luigi, since those were seasoned politicians. I would quietly object so. Who did not start from somewhere young? Even Mao himself was once a young student actively organising and participating in protests in his home region Hu’nan. Wanting a change of a hopeless nation to no avail, he then keenly observed that only armed revolution would make ends meet.
A side look might draw us to Hilary Clinton’s favourite resume record Osama bin Laden. During my first business encounters in Saudi Arabia, I was very surprised to see Bin Laden Group behind every big project. Later, of course I learned that this is just a mighty financial group’s name, which although had relations with the Bin Laden family. Needless to remind everyone that Osama bin Laden was born rich. He could’ve followed a nominally successful life had he not read too much Qutb-inspired Jahiliyah idea. Once understanding and clinging to his “mission”, he then began a lonesome journey away from his former comforts.
The construction of bin Laden is beyond our discussion today, as discussion over extremism would take another article. The extremist was built with a stern personality and tough training of mind, which could be seen among many great heroes and great evils.
Browsing through Luigi’s book list, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand caught my attention. My memories with the book came from Trump’s first election era, when the rightest’s obsession of Rand popularised this political romanticist author. Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead are voluminous books, and I remember spending days going through the rather watery narration. The books all featured handsome young men and women that govern business empires, and the struggles of them in a way resemble the Chinese model theatre. Trump adores the book maybe it idealised idols that fight for capitalist purpose, much like himself. Today, Trump’s idolised Superman images are praised by his followers.
It’d be hard to “dislike” Luigi, since he charted the classic romantic film personality. Clean history, young, handsome, body-builder, born rich, IVY educated, and strived with a sense of purpose to fight for the grassroot. Trump probably secretly wished he could be younger for 40 years, so he might face less backlash since the backlashes would’ve been labelled “bold and revolutionary”. In the much memeable world, appearance and bloodline do matter. Had Magione’s first name started with Mohammed or Arjun, the story would’ve been much different.
*I wrote this article on 14th of December. Fast forward today (Dec 20th), Luigi is facing charges on the “act of terrorism”.