The End of Empathy

The social media response to Luigi Mangione’s arrest in connection to the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson reflects a troubling cultural shift: the normalization and celebration of violence. This reaction isn’t just about one case; it’s a symptom of a broader moral and cultural decline in America.

A similar dynamic played out when Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was brutally attacked. Instead of universal condemnation, some mocked the assault. Donald Trump Jr. turned the tragedy into a joke, amplifying conspiracy theories while social media flooded with cruel memes. What should have been a moment of empathy became a spectacle of partisanship and barbarism.

These reactions reveal a dangerous trend. Frustration with systemic inequality and broken institutions has turned into cynicism about the very concept of justice. Anger at corporate greed, late-stage capitalism, and political failures is real, but celebrating violence—whether through memes or misguided hero worship—crosses a dangerous line. It’s not justice; it’s chaos.

Violence doesn’t fix systems; it corrodes them further. When we cheer for a murder suspect or mock a victim of political violence, we abandon the humanity and empathy needed to rebuild trust in our institutions. We replace accountability with vengeance and justice with cruelty.

This isn’t just political—it’s cultural. Late-stage capitalism and hyper-partisanship have eroded empathy and turned individuals into symbols of hate or heroism. Social media amplifies this, reducing real suffering into punchlines and memes, stripping away our ability to see others as human.

Today it’s Mangione. Tomorrow, it could be anyone. If society continues down this path, the line between justice and barbarism will vanish entirely. The solution isn’t to condone broken systems but to reject violence as the answer. Justice is flawed, but it must be reformed, not replaced with chaos.

The choice is ours: rebuild empathy and humanity, or let violence and cynicism bury the very idea of justice. If we fail to confront this, we’re not just mocking justice—we’re ensuring its demise.