"Reddit – First Reddit comment. Multi-paragraph comment in r/Pokemongo detailing his thesis for why he believes Nintendo will announce a Pokémon Go update at the 2016 Nintendo Pokémon Direct event.
Reddit – First reddit submission. asking what others think of his thesis re: Pokemon Go update."
I'm sorry this is so unintentionally funny it's cute. This man is innocent.
This is screaming “I am lost and lonely. I need help.” It makes me sad. I haven’t been this knee deep into the range of discourses like LM but I was in the atheism + skepticism + pseudo science pipeline and it was a depressing period of my life. I was questioning my family trauma-bound existence, relationships and was hopeless.
Thankfully, timely therapy and a few good friendships helped me. It is also striking that relationships get little to no importance in his intellectual pursuits. That’s really the missing centre of this whole puzzle (I think). I stopped relying on parasocial relationships on the internet (even if they were giving me answers I wanted) and found help in people IRL I could get vulnerable with.
Most of my male friends can’t say “I need help”. They will do everything else: travel, gym, build a start up, get into podcasts… but won’t take therapy and fix relationships until their problems get too big and collapse on them. LM is too relatable. The reason I feel emotionally invested in this whole thing is not because of the Robinhood-ification of the crime. Its the story of tech-induced Gen Z male loneliness, which will never get discussed in mainstream media. Thank you for the effort :)
to build on your comment, some sort of ableism excerbated by patriarchal beliefs of what masculinity "looks" like it may have contributed to these feelings of loneliness. him being bed bound for days due to a life-halting injury that subsequently sent him into bouts of chronic pain signals the end of his mobility freedom. his interest in nature vs nurture discourse also points to a potential desire to make sense of his injury (whether spondy was inherited or caused by a certain environment, or his parents had passed down trauma to him through genes). he obviously tried identifying many problems pedantically to find proactive solutions, turning to books, reddit, etc.
what is worth noting is that his circumstances (socially, physically, mentally) did not necessarily align with those masculine ideals imposed on men by society. i am not talking about the alpha male rhetoric about owning women and stuff, but the traditionnal beliefs like protecting the nuclear family, pulling yourself by your bootstraps, and self-discipline (notably through exercise). being disabled physically can prevent many to reach those ideals. but he did seem grounded enough to approach "problems" with nuance and open-mindedness. without speculating much on his mental health and family, i have a feeling that growing up in the uptight environment he grew up in (with a grandfather prone to outburts, see old 1980s newspapers), living in a country where there are only two political parties to vote for (thus, no one fully representing his views), and suffering under the weight of patriarchal standards of men may have shaped his ways to approach to understanding life, problems, and ultimately his own feelings.
i don't agree that men loneliness isn't discussed enough because it has been front and center since mass shootibgs became daily occurrences and got more mainstream after the US elections. however, it is most often discussed in parallel to women and how they deal with their loneliness at the supposed expense. yet, those who discuss it without care for intersectionality and feminism, in general, mostly blame women for male loneliness when the actual concept should be discussed in relation to societal norms placed on men due to patriarchal beliefs. excluding such frameworks from analyses on men loneliness epidemics overlooks the shared humanity we have, and may prevent many from all sides of the issue to use compassion over accusatory remarks.
the field of mental health and, by extension, psychology is incredibly male-centered. that is why women fail to get timely and accurate mental health diagnosis, and are dismissed as crazy or dramatic by healthcare professionals. when we talk about mental health, it is a field that derives its knowledge predominantly from male patients. nowadays we see narrative shifts that push for women perspectives in healthcare because those were nonexistent for the last hundreds and thousands of years. as explained in my last comment, society's failure to openly discuss men's mental health isn't due to the growing space that has been alloted to discussing women's mental health. it is patriarchal structures that prevent any exploration and open discussions about men's mental health. in a system that privileges men and upholds macho ideals, women and women-centered work stand at the margins of society.
women are not the reason nor are they responsible for why men's mental health isn't discussed enough.
I myself, orbit around spaces that involve luigi(X,subreddits, ig, youtube) and i try to see all perspectives. whether or not i agree with certain points, i think it’s important to see all angles. i appreciate any analysis or perspectives on luigi, including yours. i don’t understand the need for luigi stans to vilify anyone that doesn’t immediately get down on their knees for him. you can say things that might put him in a “negative light”, bc humans are flawed! and that’s reality, which is where i would like to be. im in the subreddits for info updates and some of the comments make me feel like i might be in the wrong space. very parasocial behavior and they attack anyone that doesn’t align with them, like packs of wolves. anyways, im looking forward to reading all parts and getting your perspective on luigi, thank you for writing this.
I agree. The Reddit behavior is parasocial and creepy, but Reddit in general is a hit or miss. You’ll see that Reddit really attracts obsessive and toxic individuals and it also heavily depends on the type of subreddit too. There are a ton of other subreddits dedicated to controversial figures, and even serial killers (I’m NOT comparing Luigi to a serial killer or anything like that). Some subreddits are full of reasonable people, others are full of hateful crazies. Whatever or whoever is popular or notorious on the internet, Redditors will run with it and create a mini-cult out of it.
This is actually a great reference doc due to the timeline format and I will be bookmarking it. I’ve read through Luigi’s socials, but seeing it all merged in this format helps a great deal to understand the progression and the gaps.
The additional context you’ve added about the book topics and more about the Twitter accounts he was replying to is also illuminating. I’m not in these spaces and to be honest reading his twitter history kinda bores the hell out of me so I appreciate the tidbits here. (there’s a running joke about how boring or off putting he must be to women in real life based on his takes)
Much of this stuff has already been dissected to death on Reddit, so don’t be surprised if you get told that this adds nothing, but I think it does, given the timeline format and additional insights.
I have some comments on the footnotes-
16. TrueCar isn’t unknown imo (granted, I do live near a building with their logo emblazoned on top) but I agree it’s not a FAANG job, and I wonder if he wanted that. I have seen speculation elsewhere about having to settle due to his internships and networks (he was a camp counselor at Stanford instead of taking tech internships). Do you have any insight into whether he was let go or quit in 2023? He told friends that he quit because it was boring, but there were also mass layoffs at the time so it’s been wondered if he was covering.
25. But… he did have his back pain by Feb 2022. As you noted it’s likely the injury was in January. But even so, he said on Reddit that he had spondy since childhood and mild back pain that he basically learned to deal with. It’s quite possible he had looked into cures before, so this doesn’t stand out to me.
29. I agree he probably rated it low if it encourages people not to get surgery. Based on his reddit history it seemed like he was afraid to get surgery until he realized that all other options had been exhausted, but he was never “against” it. So that tracks.
36. The personal story in that review about arguing with his mom over the proper way to cut steak (at 6 years old!) and having that interaction stick with him is notable to me. This is hearsay, but you might be interested to know that the police say that a friend told them that Luigi’s mom is “somewhat overbearing”. (https://archive.is/r38Jt)
40. See above
43. Thanks for deciphering this
47. I’ve kinda skipped over the non-review goodreads stuff so thank you for the additional context, I need to go read whatever quotes he liked
49. Additional lore here - a former friend posted a text convo from February 2024 where Luigi said “Eh yea I have this boomer vendetta against phones” (I can send the screenshot in PM)
60. This is one of the most legendary pieces of Luigi Lore and I’m sorry you missed it at the time. (Edit: I guess you did reply but I overlooked that since the convo ended there)
61. Thanks for linking the doghouse clip. I’d heard it was a Norm joke but I hadn’t actually seen it. RIP Norm
Thank you for comment. This is exactly what I was trying to do with this unified timeline. I agree that unifying is makes it much easier to assess changes in his personality. I understand why zealots who never grow or change will see it as unnecessary. But this series is not for them.
As far as footnotes and other comments, will need to review and provide longer response later.
re 16: I had never heard of it. It doesn't give me any prestige vibes either way. Everything about his life up until graduation was all high-prestige stuff. I think there is something telling about his prestige trajectory flatlining after college. WHAT it says, i'm not sure, but it's worth thinking about.
25. The note was mostly over the fact that everything I've seen says his injury was in July. But as may or may not be evident, I have not paid attention to much outside of these SM things up until the last week. If reddit sleuths or newer articles already ack that it happened in jan/feb then my note is superfluous.
29. I get the sense that he trusted doctors who advised against surgery and eventually was in so much pain that he did it and become angry that he was told by so many to be afraid of or avoid it. I personally don't think this anger influenced the (alleged) shooting (or at least wasn't at the heart of it), but i do think he had lost trust in the advice of doctors.
37. yes good note I had forgot about that. I do want to be careful to read into it too much as I suspect most upper class mothers are very "proper" in that way and I've seen little evidence of an extremely strained relationship between him and his family (the primary being the fact that after college he moved away to hawaii and traveled but this is entirely consistent with the idea that he just wanted to explore the world), but worth keeping in the mental archive for future associations.
40. Thinking more about 40, i actually changed the note. I no longer thing the 48 laws of power has any relation to TRP for Luigi. Updated to "While this book is a common one reference in “Red Pill” communities, and he was engaging with a few “Red Pill” accounts. I think he would have added “The Rational Male” if he truly believed there was some validity to “Red Pill” ideas."
43. yw
49. that does not surprise me. It seems very evident to me he wanted technology be something that is only a tool rather than a master.
16. Well yeah, TrueCar is definitely not prestige I agree. Why he went there is a mystery. I mentioned he did summer jobs as a Stanford camp counselor rather than taking tech internships, so it’s been speculated that he couldn’t land a better gig.
On the subject of Stanford, one thing I find kind of interesting but I don’t really see talked about much is that his 2015 WP blog was luigimangionestanford and that was made when he was in high school. Was Stanford his dream school? Was Penn his choice for reasons that weren’t his? I wonder about this.
I admit I don’t follow LM reddit that closely because they are fanatical and exhausting so maybe they’ve already come to a conclusion on this.
25 My brain is currently mush as well so if you have a citation for July 2022 injury let me know. If it’s just an assumption based on an ER visit I’m skeptical. I’d be going off his words on reddit over that.
29 I lost trust in doctors about his age too, so I feel for him. Thankfully I didn’t have so much of a life altering issue. But anyway I agree it was likely not a motive, if the police report of him writing “insurance checks all the boxes” is true then it’s not about doctors themselves.
37 the family is a major question mark in this and it’s not surprising that they’ve closed ranks given their status. It will be interesting to see if any close family attend the trial or otherwise come forward. So far we have a generic press release and a deleted post from his sister saying “praying for you”.
re: 25 he says on multiple occasions on reddit that his surgery was on July 21st 2023. The media says his injury was july (7th?) 2022, because he had an ER visit then. But his reddit history very clearly suggests that it was before that. He explicitly says at least once that his spondy became debilitating in Jan. I have it in the article. It would be odd that his spondy because debilitating in Jan and then in feb he had the surfing injury. But not impossible. Either way, assuming he's not completely schizophrenic, his spondy was def debilitating before July 2022 when he had ER visit.
Why do you think he is schizophrenic? Maybe I missed it. Was he diagnosed? This is the first time I read about this possibility besides someone's rantings on TT.
2023 was a typo on my part, I meant 2022 for the injury. I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong but I think the accepted timeline is early 2022 for the injury not the ER visit.
I’m sure he had alts. No way this dude wasn’t secretly on r/wallstreetbets
Most of what’s been uncovered was based on searching his email addresses. But iirc the reddit account was only found because he linked to his own GitHub which happens to be lnmangione. So yeah there’s gotta be more.
I was fully prepared to roll my eyes at yet another unneeded summation of every moment Luigi spent on social media. It's not like it hasn't been examined and discussed to death, right? So it's a pleasant surprise that this actually provides a new and somehow more impactful way of seeing and absorbing all of this than anything I have seen so far.
I am intrigued, and looking forward to the next part.
I am glad to have pleasantry surprised you. I agree that seeing it all together allows for a much more cohesive storyline to form from the facts alone—seeing his evolution rather than him as a "fixed" state; as well as being able to actually digest it rather than just seeing an overwhelming collection of data (something which forces us to rely on our pre-existing biases to filter it). It is precisely why I took the like 40 or so hours it too write it lol.
In my opinion, the post he made in the OneBag subreddit: Journal / Packing List: 2+ Months in Asia in a Mid-Sized Backpack from Friday, 04/05/2024, sheds a lot of light on his personality. I didn’t see you delve into it, and I would really like to read your perspective on it.
I wanted to note, I’ve noticed that his job at true car is something people don’t talk about a lot. I think he was most likely laid off, but we don’t know for sure. I seriously think that contributed to his possible spiral. I’m sure he felt that he had to live up to huge expectations, and it can be devastating and a blow to anyone’s ego to be laid off or fired. It’s also possible he didn’t like the trajectory his tech career was going in? But we don’t know enough about that. Interested in hearing your thoughts on that :-)
I'd also be interested if this was confirmed. Because I read (pretty sure it was in one of his notes/reviews) that he preferred the idea of short period of "retirement" throughout life rather than working for decades to only then enjoy your freedom. This, together with the comment that the job was "mind numbingly boring" would suggest he quit by himself
Maybe he did quit? Hopefully, we’ll get more clarity on that in the future. There are reports saying that he likely was laid off, but we really don’t know. There are so many unanswered questions, and I feel like there is so much about him we don’t know yet that’ll eventually come to light and could surprise us.
Ah nice finds. A lot of the claims made in those articles irked me, twisting facts to fit a narrative... but it sounds like they literally reached out to his employer to confirm he was no longer employed there so I think we can reasonably assume it is a fact.
He also never told his family he didn't work there anymore, which I think is very interesting.
His mother reported him missing in Nov 2024, and was under the assumption he still worked there. She reported him missing in San Fran because that's where the TrueCar offices are.
Apparently he went back to Baltimore last Christmas, so I think it's very telling he never told his parents that he no longer had a job... whether he quit or was laid-off, I think it's important.
I’m really surprised no journalist has gone digging at TrueCar. No one can say was it early, mid, late 2023 that he stopped working there. If end of 2023 he may have quit to go travelling. Not unusual for someone in their mid 20’s.
He also had Instagram and Facebook which are deleted now but you can find screen recordings on tiktok. It was all just pics of him and his friends having a good time. Makes you wonder what went wrong
@Max if you’re interested in the Insta/FB referred here by Ioana I can send you what I have. Not sure it will really add anything to the recap you’re doing here as it’s light social media stuff, but let me know.
He disappeared and cut off his family and friends, which as you know from all their statements was concerning and unusual. He was supposed to attend that best friend’s wedding in September and they were all looking for him. Whether he was coerced into something, or had a mental break, we don’t know why, and we’ll probably not know until the trial.
A thorough analysis of the makeup of his following lists on Twitter and Substack is minimally done elsewhere. I suggest you do one since you're very familiar with both platforms and your insight will add more dimension to the puzzle pieces we're all trying to put together collectively.
Max, don’t worry. The many Luigi stans auditioning to be his prison wife will obviously leave hate comments. We appreciate your analysis. Many of these “fans” are weirdly possessive and overly protective, essentially trying to police people‘s right to speak on a very public case.
I usually never comment but please ignore the virtue signaling! Those women bullied his friend Tracy off of the internet as well as send her threats for posting a sweet video of them with an endearing caption. It wasn't until she clarified that she's married that people sent utter vitriol her way. We have to stay focused on what matters and that's the truth!
Exactly; they’ve appointed themselves the moral authority on anything related to Luigi, and they think their approval is needed. They’re literally trying to police any posts about Luigi, even the positive ones from his friend Tracy. It’s like weirdly possessive. Everything is labeled as “clout chasing”. Even if someone is clout chasing, they have the right to express their opinion and speak on it. They also have the right to be Luigi stans and support him on Reddit, the same way other people also have the right to talk about it, analyze the case, etc.
I love your passion. It’s definitely giving “not like the other girls”. I hope Luigi picks you. Anyways, Max is setting the stage for part two. Stay tuned. We know you’re waiting on it with bated breath☺️💕
That’s the thing, Max (or anyone else interested in analyzing the case or Luigi) doesn’t really have to have any type of reason that’s “valid” to you or anyone else on the Internet. If you think it’s redundant or uninteresting, then you can click off. Many will talk about this case whether you like it or not- there isn’t any rules for this. Buckle up.
As mentioned, not everyone uses Reddit. Just because it’s covered on one platform doesn’t make it forbidden to strike the same discourse elsewhere.
The same news stories run on different channels that doesn’t make it futile, how is this any different?
And as a matter of fact, Max had personal exchanges with Luigi (literally the grand finale of this project). Luigi sought him out on X for a long time so in short yes, he did “pick” him.
There's a much more thorough analysis of all of this (you didn't even know who Gurwinder was)... so what's the point then? Other than trying to capitalize on someone who can't speak for himself right now simply because he interacted with you (and you didn't even follow him back).
As I detailed at least in 0.5: I am writing this piece because the level of rigor used by others to assess the information we already have is an affront to my morals.
To expand: the options of Luigi assessments one can consume at the moment appear to be from people who have read all his social media but are zealots cherrying picking it to fit into their preferred narrative (such as yourself); or people who are fairly rigorous thinkers (Gurwinder, Urban, and Skallas) but who are either uninterested in him and thus have not done much research (Urban, Skallas), are more interested in covering their ass with "murder bad! any one who read me and did this MUST have misunderstood me!" (All three of them), or using him as an example of who NOT to be to cast themselves into prominence (Gurwinder, a little bit Skallas).
It is likely this series will increase traffic to my blog, true. And some additional thoughtful readers might be nice. But traffic from people such as yourself make my life worse. I would much prefer if you guys did not read or engage with anything I write. And this would actually help both of us, given that everytime you comment, share, or discuss me you only increase my reach and relevance. If one wishes to grift maxx, "all new is good news".
With that said, the other things true of the aforementioned trio I will not be doing. In fact, I am writing this precisely because I find them as low integrity and borderline unethical. And I hope to provide something which I would respect.
As a final note, if it's any consolation: I can assure you that I am only losing money by caring about this at all (even if every single person who subscribes to this blog paid me $10 a month, I would still be losing money) and that I will likely go dark for a while after the series is published so I can get away from all this attention.
I will be muting you and no longer engaging with any of your comments moving forward, but I do wish you all the best and hope that at the end of all this you will agree that I have behaved honorably and respectably.
• Marked "Want to Read": Professional Idiot: A Memoir by Stephen Steve-O Glover.
Nov 2018
• Marked "Read": The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J. R. R. Tolkien.
• Marked "Read": Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker. Liked a quote.
Jan 2019
• Marked "Want to Read": Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
Feb 2019
• Marked as "Read" 2 times: Professional Idiot: A Memoir by Stephen Steve-O Glover. Rated 4 stars.
Oct 2019
• Marked "Read": Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card.
Nov 2020
• Marked "Want to Read": Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight. (TMI: The boss of his then-girlfriend recommended it to him. She is the daughter of https://shorturl.at/RSil1)
Jan 2021
• Marked "Read": Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know by Malcolm Gladwell. Rated 3 stars.
Mar 2021
• Marked "Read": Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight. Rated 4 stars.
Feb 2023
• Marked "Read": Becoming a Supple Leopard: The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance by Dr. Kelly Starrett. Rated 4 stars.
Jan 2024
• Marked "Read": Introduction to Algorithms by Thomas H. Cormen. Rated 3 stars.
Looked into this. I was confused because I was familiar with all of these books on his list but you are right they were not included in the article. I realized that for most of them its because he did not list a "date read" for them only a "date shelved" which messed up my process of looking at "date read" to add them to the piece. For a few it looks like I just missed them though.
I have added all now. Thanks for pointing them out and for even pre-formatting them. That saved me a bunch of time!
Lastly, do you have source for your comment about Shoe Dog? the link you included appears to be dead.
The piece of writing that best reveals his personality, and perhaps his true motive, is "How Christianity Prospered by Appealing to the Lower Classes of Ancient Rome." Read it carefully, then read it again. Between the lines, you’ll find traces of his subconscious. And if you’re a believer in Jungian synchronicity, it’s no surprise that it’s saved as "Mangione Final Draft."
I've read it multiple times. You present an interesting thesis. IF Luigi had an underlying desire all along to overthrow the ruling class then this would certainly fit that narrative. Keep in mind that he wrote it at age 15, so it literally would have had to be something boiling up in him for his entire post-pubescent life.
However, I personally think this narrative is more likely an egregore of his supporters who support him precisely because they believe that *should* happen and who presume that Luigi is 1) guilty and 2) motivated by that. And then are ex post facto looking for justification to support their preferred narrative.
As someone who is coming at this with no preconceived narrative or preference, only writing about it because I was thrust into it due to our interpersonal association rather than because I actually care much about the shooting, I see little if any evidence to suggest that Luigi had this desire prior to July 2024 based on his social media activity.
Obviously, it's possible that something changed dramatically in the succeeding 6 months, or that it was all hidden offline. But doesn't seem the most likely explanation to me at least.
Max, first off, thank you for your original post and for putting together the timeline of events and history, it’s been incredibly helpful in understanding Luigi in a chronological context. I also appreciate you engaging with me in this discussion.
To clarify, my thesis isn’t that Luigi had an underlying desire to overthrow the ruling class. Rather, I believe this piece of writing is of paramount significance to understanding his personality and psyche. I may not know exactly why yet, though I have some hypotheses, but I’m certain that this paper is (a) key to deciphering his way of thinking.
Before getting into what I think the paper reveals about him, I want to start by outlining why I believe it is so critical in the first place.
1. It was deeply important to Luigi. He wrote it at 15 and years later reposted it on Twitter. This wasn’t a major academic thesis. While he may have been proud of an A+ (though, to be clear, I have no idea if he did, just speculating) that alone doesn’t explain why he shared it years later. I imagine he’s had no shortage of A-grade papers throughout his academic career. But this one, for whatever reason, stood out to him. This suggests that the themes in the paper weren’t just passing thoughts but central to his intellectual framework.
2. It’s the longest, most structured insight into his thinking that we have. Most of what we see from him is fragmented: tweets, soundbites, offhand comments. This paper, however, gives us a deliberate, extended exploration of an idea he found worth dissecting.
The title alone, "How Christianity Prospered by Appealing to the Lower Classes of Ancient Rome" is worth exploring. The emphasis on how rather than why is striking. At an age when most people engage with religion through moral or philosophical inquiry, Luigi bypasses those questions entirely and instead examines Christianity’s success as a system. He doesn’t debate whether it was good or bad, whether it uplifted people or manipulated them, he focuses purely on how it worked. This kind of approach prioritizes understanding mechanics over assigning value judgement and may suggest a weaker J function and a stronger P function (?).
Most religious discussions, whether from believers or skeptics, tend to center on faith’s role in shaping individuals and societies. Luigi, however, flips the perspective. Instead of asking how Christianity benefited society, he asks how society benefited Christianity. It's not a way of engaging with religion that I’ve seen often (though not unusual). Even among the biggest names in religious and philosophical discourse. Thinkers like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Cornel West, Robert P. George, and Carlos Eire approach religion through moral, historical, or ideological lenses, debating its impact on human flourishing, its philosophical coherence, or its historical significance. Even when critiquing religion, figures like Dawkins and Hitchens focus on what it claims to be versus what it does. Luigi, however, appears to sidestep these questions entirely. His focus is strikingly pragmatic, analyzing religion not as a belief system but as an adaptable, self-sustaining mechanism.
One of the more intriguing (and flawed) aspects of the paper is his assertion that Christianity showed no mercy to non-believers, enforcing strict punishment. This suggests a rather superficial engagement with Christian theology, one that reduces complex doctrines to blunt institutional tactics. It’s fascinating that someone so attuned to the mechanics of belief does not seem particularly concerned with its substance. It raises the question: Was he uninterested in the faith itself, or was he simply more captivated by the ways it was wielded as a tool of influence?
I anticipate pushback on this interpretation (and I'm happy to keep engaging with the text) but in many ways the paper presents Luigi as someone who is highly attuned to how power operates but seemingly detached from deeper ideological or moral convictions. He recognizes what moves people, who is most susceptible to being moved, and the structural forces at play; but there is little indication that he personally aligns with or believes in the systems he analyzes.
If you use this paper as a foundational framework to analyze his other statements and writings, a clearer picture of his mindset begins to emerge. Take, for example, his alleged manifesto, where he rationalizes his actions by saying that killing the CEO "checks off all the boxes." This doesn’t indicate a personal sense of injustice, it suggests he was tapping into a broader societal grievance, something resonating in the collective consciousness. But to what end?
A truly justice-driven personality, like an INFJ or ENFJ, would likely exhibit a more transparent, traceable logic; an eye for an eye sense of justice. If Luigi were motivated by direct retribution, his focus would presumably be on the doctor who harmed him, not on a CEO detached from his personal suffering. His actions don’t align with moral justice but rather suggest a more abstract motive, possibly one less about righting a wrong and more about wielding power, commanding attention, and seizing influence for its own sake.
Thanks for the thorough timeline, Max! IIRC, there was another (Twitter?) interaction he had with Gurwinder the Grifter where GtG posted something about curating social media feeds. Luigi’s reply was akin to “Show us how Gurwinder!” Hoping others know what I’m referring to and it can get added to this timeline. I wonder how much of this was “raw” LM vs. what he wanted to leave behind.
I reread the Gurwinder article and it’s not really clear. I’d only assumed it was private.
“On June 10th, I received my last communication from Luigi. It was a seemingly innocent request; he wanted me to help him curate his social media feed. I’d already given him tips on how to do that, so the question struck me as odd. I directed him to a relevant article I’d written and offered to answer any questions he had about it. I never heard from him again.
In retrospect, I wonder if his request was an awkward cry for help, as a New York Times journalist told me it was his last known online communication. It’s hard not to wonder if, had I answered his call, things might have turned out differently.”
"Reddit – First Reddit comment. Multi-paragraph comment in r/Pokemongo detailing his thesis for why he believes Nintendo will announce a Pokémon Go update at the 2016 Nintendo Pokémon Direct event.
Reddit – First reddit submission. asking what others think of his thesis re: Pokemon Go update."
I'm sorry this is so unintentionally funny it's cute. This man is innocent.
The guy’s got OPINIONS on Pokemon and he must share with the Internet!
Unshackle him!
This is screaming “I am lost and lonely. I need help.” It makes me sad. I haven’t been this knee deep into the range of discourses like LM but I was in the atheism + skepticism + pseudo science pipeline and it was a depressing period of my life. I was questioning my family trauma-bound existence, relationships and was hopeless.
Thankfully, timely therapy and a few good friendships helped me. It is also striking that relationships get little to no importance in his intellectual pursuits. That’s really the missing centre of this whole puzzle (I think). I stopped relying on parasocial relationships on the internet (even if they were giving me answers I wanted) and found help in people IRL I could get vulnerable with.
Most of my male friends can’t say “I need help”. They will do everything else: travel, gym, build a start up, get into podcasts… but won’t take therapy and fix relationships until their problems get too big and collapse on them. LM is too relatable. The reason I feel emotionally invested in this whole thing is not because of the Robinhood-ification of the crime. Its the story of tech-induced Gen Z male loneliness, which will never get discussed in mainstream media. Thank you for the effort :)
to build on your comment, some sort of ableism excerbated by patriarchal beliefs of what masculinity "looks" like it may have contributed to these feelings of loneliness. him being bed bound for days due to a life-halting injury that subsequently sent him into bouts of chronic pain signals the end of his mobility freedom. his interest in nature vs nurture discourse also points to a potential desire to make sense of his injury (whether spondy was inherited or caused by a certain environment, or his parents had passed down trauma to him through genes). he obviously tried identifying many problems pedantically to find proactive solutions, turning to books, reddit, etc.
what is worth noting is that his circumstances (socially, physically, mentally) did not necessarily align with those masculine ideals imposed on men by society. i am not talking about the alpha male rhetoric about owning women and stuff, but the traditionnal beliefs like protecting the nuclear family, pulling yourself by your bootstraps, and self-discipline (notably through exercise). being disabled physically can prevent many to reach those ideals. but he did seem grounded enough to approach "problems" with nuance and open-mindedness. without speculating much on his mental health and family, i have a feeling that growing up in the uptight environment he grew up in (with a grandfather prone to outburts, see old 1980s newspapers), living in a country where there are only two political parties to vote for (thus, no one fully representing his views), and suffering under the weight of patriarchal standards of men may have shaped his ways to approach to understanding life, problems, and ultimately his own feelings.
i don't agree that men loneliness isn't discussed enough because it has been front and center since mass shootibgs became daily occurrences and got more mainstream after the US elections. however, it is most often discussed in parallel to women and how they deal with their loneliness at the supposed expense. yet, those who discuss it without care for intersectionality and feminism, in general, mostly blame women for male loneliness when the actual concept should be discussed in relation to societal norms placed on men due to patriarchal beliefs. excluding such frameworks from analyses on men loneliness epidemics overlooks the shared humanity we have, and may prevent many from all sides of the issue to use compassion over accusatory remarks.
the field of mental health and, by extension, psychology is incredibly male-centered. that is why women fail to get timely and accurate mental health diagnosis, and are dismissed as crazy or dramatic by healthcare professionals. when we talk about mental health, it is a field that derives its knowledge predominantly from male patients. nowadays we see narrative shifts that push for women perspectives in healthcare because those were nonexistent for the last hundreds and thousands of years. as explained in my last comment, society's failure to openly discuss men's mental health isn't due to the growing space that has been alloted to discussing women's mental health. it is patriarchal structures that prevent any exploration and open discussions about men's mental health. in a system that privileges men and upholds macho ideals, women and women-centered work stand at the margins of society.
women are not the reason nor are they responsible for why men's mental health isn't discussed enough.
Pretty insightful first part. By the amount of research made I can see that this must have taken lots of work and time to be put together 👍
I myself, orbit around spaces that involve luigi(X,subreddits, ig, youtube) and i try to see all perspectives. whether or not i agree with certain points, i think it’s important to see all angles. i appreciate any analysis or perspectives on luigi, including yours. i don’t understand the need for luigi stans to vilify anyone that doesn’t immediately get down on their knees for him. you can say things that might put him in a “negative light”, bc humans are flawed! and that’s reality, which is where i would like to be. im in the subreddits for info updates and some of the comments make me feel like i might be in the wrong space. very parasocial behavior and they attack anyone that doesn’t align with them, like packs of wolves. anyways, im looking forward to reading all parts and getting your perspective on luigi, thank you for writing this.
I agree. The Reddit behavior is parasocial and creepy, but Reddit in general is a hit or miss. You’ll see that Reddit really attracts obsessive and toxic individuals and it also heavily depends on the type of subreddit too. There are a ton of other subreddits dedicated to controversial figures, and even serial killers (I’m NOT comparing Luigi to a serial killer or anything like that). Some subreddits are full of reasonable people, others are full of hateful crazies. Whatever or whoever is popular or notorious on the internet, Redditors will run with it and create a mini-cult out of it.
This is actually a great reference doc due to the timeline format and I will be bookmarking it. I’ve read through Luigi’s socials, but seeing it all merged in this format helps a great deal to understand the progression and the gaps.
The additional context you’ve added about the book topics and more about the Twitter accounts he was replying to is also illuminating. I’m not in these spaces and to be honest reading his twitter history kinda bores the hell out of me so I appreciate the tidbits here. (there’s a running joke about how boring or off putting he must be to women in real life based on his takes)
Much of this stuff has already been dissected to death on Reddit, so don’t be surprised if you get told that this adds nothing, but I think it does, given the timeline format and additional insights.
I have some comments on the footnotes-
16. TrueCar isn’t unknown imo (granted, I do live near a building with their logo emblazoned on top) but I agree it’s not a FAANG job, and I wonder if he wanted that. I have seen speculation elsewhere about having to settle due to his internships and networks (he was a camp counselor at Stanford instead of taking tech internships). Do you have any insight into whether he was let go or quit in 2023? He told friends that he quit because it was boring, but there were also mass layoffs at the time so it’s been wondered if he was covering.
25. But… he did have his back pain by Feb 2022. As you noted it’s likely the injury was in January. But even so, he said on Reddit that he had spondy since childhood and mild back pain that he basically learned to deal with. It’s quite possible he had looked into cures before, so this doesn’t stand out to me.
29. I agree he probably rated it low if it encourages people not to get surgery. Based on his reddit history it seemed like he was afraid to get surgery until he realized that all other options had been exhausted, but he was never “against” it. So that tracks.
36. The personal story in that review about arguing with his mom over the proper way to cut steak (at 6 years old!) and having that interaction stick with him is notable to me. This is hearsay, but you might be interested to know that the police say that a friend told them that Luigi’s mom is “somewhat overbearing”. (https://archive.is/r38Jt)
40. See above
43. Thanks for deciphering this
47. I’ve kinda skipped over the non-review goodreads stuff so thank you for the additional context, I need to go read whatever quotes he liked
49. Additional lore here - a former friend posted a text convo from February 2024 where Luigi said “Eh yea I have this boomer vendetta against phones” (I can send the screenshot in PM)
54. You didn’t note this but he also replied to the same tweet saying that he worries that we’re heading toward the movie Idiocracy. https://x.com/pepmangione/status/1783149744392651058
60. This is one of the most legendary pieces of Luigi Lore and I’m sorry you missed it at the time. (Edit: I guess you did reply but I overlooked that since the convo ended there)
61. Thanks for linking the doghouse clip. I’d heard it was a Norm joke but I hadn’t actually seen it. RIP Norm
Thank you for comment. This is exactly what I was trying to do with this unified timeline. I agree that unifying is makes it much easier to assess changes in his personality. I understand why zealots who never grow or change will see it as unnecessary. But this series is not for them.
As far as footnotes and other comments, will need to review and provide longer response later.
re 16: I had never heard of it. It doesn't give me any prestige vibes either way. Everything about his life up until graduation was all high-prestige stuff. I think there is something telling about his prestige trajectory flatlining after college. WHAT it says, i'm not sure, but it's worth thinking about.
25. The note was mostly over the fact that everything I've seen says his injury was in July. But as may or may not be evident, I have not paid attention to much outside of these SM things up until the last week. If reddit sleuths or newer articles already ack that it happened in jan/feb then my note is superfluous.
29. I get the sense that he trusted doctors who advised against surgery and eventually was in so much pain that he did it and become angry that he was told by so many to be afraid of or avoid it. I personally don't think this anger influenced the (alleged) shooting (or at least wasn't at the heart of it), but i do think he had lost trust in the advice of doctors.
37. yes good note I had forgot about that. I do want to be careful to read into it too much as I suspect most upper class mothers are very "proper" in that way and I've seen little evidence of an extremely strained relationship between him and his family (the primary being the fact that after college he moved away to hawaii and traveled but this is entirely consistent with the idea that he just wanted to explore the world), but worth keeping in the mental archive for future associations.
40. Thinking more about 40, i actually changed the note. I no longer thing the 48 laws of power has any relation to TRP for Luigi. Updated to "While this book is a common one reference in “Red Pill” communities, and he was engaging with a few “Red Pill” accounts. I think he would have added “The Rational Male” if he truly believed there was some validity to “Red Pill” ideas."
43. yw
49. that does not surprise me. It seems very evident to me he wanted technology be something that is only a tool rather than a master.
54. will add ty
60. yeah sorry brain is no function lately lol
61. yw
16. Well yeah, TrueCar is definitely not prestige I agree. Why he went there is a mystery. I mentioned he did summer jobs as a Stanford camp counselor rather than taking tech internships, so it’s been speculated that he couldn’t land a better gig.
On the subject of Stanford, one thing I find kind of interesting but I don’t really see talked about much is that his 2015 WP blog was luigimangionestanford and that was made when he was in high school. Was Stanford his dream school? Was Penn his choice for reasons that weren’t his? I wonder about this.
I admit I don’t follow LM reddit that closely because they are fanatical and exhausting so maybe they’ve already come to a conclusion on this.
25 My brain is currently mush as well so if you have a citation for July 2022 injury let me know. If it’s just an assumption based on an ER visit I’m skeptical. I’d be going off his words on reddit over that.
29 I lost trust in doctors about his age too, so I feel for him. Thankfully I didn’t have so much of a life altering issue. But anyway I agree it was likely not a motive, if the police report of him writing “insurance checks all the boxes” is true then it’s not about doctors themselves.
37 the family is a major question mark in this and it’s not surprising that they’ve closed ranks given their status. It will be interesting to see if any close family attend the trial or otherwise come forward. So far we have a generic press release and a deleted post from his sister saying “praying for you”.
re: 25 he says on multiple occasions on reddit that his surgery was on July 21st 2023. The media says his injury was july (7th?) 2022, because he had an ER visit then. But his reddit history very clearly suggests that it was before that. He explicitly says at least once that his spondy became debilitating in Jan. I have it in the article. It would be odd that his spondy because debilitating in Jan and then in feb he had the surfing injury. But not impossible. Either way, assuming he's not completely schizophrenic, his spondy was def debilitating before July 2022 when he had ER visit.
Why do you think he is schizophrenic? Maybe I missed it. Was he diagnosed? This is the first time I read about this possibility besides someone's rantings on TT.
2023 was a typo on my part, I meant 2022 for the injury. I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong but I think the accepted timeline is early 2022 for the injury not the ER visit.
I’m sure he had alts. No way this dude wasn’t secretly on r/wallstreetbets
Most of what’s been uncovered was based on searching his email addresses. But iirc the reddit account was only found because he linked to his own GitHub which happens to be lnmangione. So yeah there’s gotta be more.
Max, it's been a week since you posted this. Let's get on with part two, not all of us have a life.
I was fully prepared to roll my eyes at yet another unneeded summation of every moment Luigi spent on social media. It's not like it hasn't been examined and discussed to death, right? So it's a pleasant surprise that this actually provides a new and somehow more impactful way of seeing and absorbing all of this than anything I have seen so far.
I am intrigued, and looking forward to the next part.
I am glad to have pleasantry surprised you. I agree that seeing it all together allows for a much more cohesive storyline to form from the facts alone—seeing his evolution rather than him as a "fixed" state; as well as being able to actually digest it rather than just seeing an overwhelming collection of data (something which forces us to rely on our pre-existing biases to filter it). It is precisely why I took the like 40 or so hours it too write it lol.
Hi Max,
In my opinion, the post he made in the OneBag subreddit: Journal / Packing List: 2+ Months in Asia in a Mid-Sized Backpack from Friday, 04/05/2024, sheds a lot of light on his personality. I didn’t see you delve into it, and I would really like to read your perspective on it.
Thanks.
Yes you're right. I planned to talk about his travel bug in part 2 but you are right I don't think I provided enough context here on it. will update.
I wanted to note, I’ve noticed that his job at true car is something people don’t talk about a lot. I think he was most likely laid off, but we don’t know for sure. I seriously think that contributed to his possible spiral. I’m sure he felt that he had to live up to huge expectations, and it can be devastating and a blow to anyone’s ego to be laid off or fired. It’s also possible he didn’t like the trajectory his tech career was going in? But we don’t know enough about that. Interested in hearing your thoughts on that :-)
do we know for sure that he didn't work there anymore? I also think that his job situation tells us a lot.
He didn’t work there anymore after 2023 and most reports are claiming he was laid off.
I'd also be interested if this was confirmed. Because I read (pretty sure it was in one of his notes/reviews) that he preferred the idea of short period of "retirement" throughout life rather than working for decades to only then enjoy your freedom. This, together with the comment that the job was "mind numbingly boring" would suggest he quit by himself
Maybe he did quit? Hopefully, we’ll get more clarity on that in the future. There are reports saying that he likely was laid off, but we really don’t know. There are so many unanswered questions, and I feel like there is so much about him we don’t know yet that’ll eventually come to light and could surprise us.
Are there credible reports that he was laid off? All I’ve seen is speculation but it’s my personal theory so I’d love a source.
>He didn’t work there anymore after 2023
Says who? I trust your judgement so assume you are right that the claim is credible but would like to see the evidence myself.
Says TrueCar.
Source: https://archive.is/gTQrh
It is not confirmed if he was laid off or quit. Supposedly he told a friend that he quit because it was boring.
Source: https://archive.is/EcrlO
Ah nice finds. A lot of the claims made in those articles irked me, twisting facts to fit a narrative... but it sounds like they literally reached out to his employer to confirm he was no longer employed there so I think we can reasonably assume it is a fact.
He also never told his family he didn't work there anymore, which I think is very interesting.
His mother reported him missing in Nov 2024, and was under the assumption he still worked there. She reported him missing in San Fran because that's where the TrueCar offices are.
Apparently he went back to Baltimore last Christmas, so I think it's very telling he never told his parents that he no longer had a job... whether he quit or was laid-off, I think it's important.
I’m really surprised no journalist has gone digging at TrueCar. No one can say was it early, mid, late 2023 that he stopped working there. If end of 2023 he may have quit to go travelling. Not unusual for someone in their mid 20’s.
Your comments are interesting. I too have read all of his social media trying to make sense of him. Looking forward to reading your next post.
He also had Instagram and Facebook which are deleted now but you can find screen recordings on tiktok. It was all just pics of him and his friends having a good time. Makes you wonder what went wrong
@Max if you’re interested in the Insta/FB referred here by Ioana I can send you what I have. Not sure it will really add anything to the recap you’re doing here as it’s light social media stuff, but let me know.
yes pls DM. i dont know if i'll include it here but would be good to see for analysis.
He disappeared and cut off his family and friends, which as you know from all their statements was concerning and unusual. He was supposed to attend that best friend’s wedding in September and they were all looking for him. Whether he was coerced into something, or had a mental break, we don’t know why, and we’ll probably not know until the trial.
A thorough analysis of the makeup of his following lists on Twitter and Substack is minimally done elsewhere. I suggest you do one since you're very familiar with both platforms and your insight will add more dimension to the puzzle pieces we're all trying to put together collectively.
Can you link a couple of you have them? I haven’t seen that and would like to read.
So basically you're doing what's already been done ad nauseam on Reddit but with a little arrogance sprinkled on it.
I dont use reddit but sounds about right, yes
Max, don’t worry. The many Luigi stans auditioning to be his prison wife will obviously leave hate comments. We appreciate your analysis. Many of these “fans” are weirdly possessive and overly protective, essentially trying to police people‘s right to speak on a very public case.
I usually never comment but please ignore the virtue signaling! Those women bullied his friend Tracy off of the internet as well as send her threats for posting a sweet video of them with an endearing caption. It wasn't until she clarified that she's married that people sent utter vitriol her way. We have to stay focused on what matters and that's the truth!
Exactly; they’ve appointed themselves the moral authority on anything related to Luigi, and they think their approval is needed. They’re literally trying to police any posts about Luigi, even the positive ones from his friend Tracy. It’s like weirdly possessive. Everything is labeled as “clout chasing”. Even if someone is clout chasing, they have the right to express their opinion and speak on it. They also have the right to be Luigi stans and support him on Reddit, the same way other people also have the right to talk about it, analyze the case, etc.
Did he pick you?
Also, where is the analysis on the case? None of this has anything to do with it.
I love your passion. It’s definitely giving “not like the other girls”. I hope Luigi picks you. Anyways, Max is setting the stage for part two. Stay tuned. We know you’re waiting on it with bated breath☺️💕
This may come as a shock to you, but not all of us do stuff to get male validation. I understand this is a foreign concept for you.
And I don't need to read anything more. Fortunately, this has already been covered thoroughly by people who didn't do it for attention.
You didn't answer, by the way. Did he pick you and what does this have to do with the case?
That’s the thing, Max (or anyone else interested in analyzing the case or Luigi) doesn’t really have to have any type of reason that’s “valid” to you or anyone else on the Internet. If you think it’s redundant or uninteresting, then you can click off. Many will talk about this case whether you like it or not- there isn’t any rules for this. Buckle up.
As mentioned, not everyone uses Reddit. Just because it’s covered on one platform doesn’t make it forbidden to strike the same discourse elsewhere.
The same news stories run on different channels that doesn’t make it futile, how is this any different?
And as a matter of fact, Max had personal exchanges with Luigi (literally the grand finale of this project). Luigi sought him out on X for a long time so in short yes, he did “pick” him.
Get a job, it'll be more productive.
There's a much more thorough analysis of all of this (you didn't even know who Gurwinder was)... so what's the point then? Other than trying to capitalize on someone who can't speak for himself right now simply because he interacted with you (and you didn't even follow him back).
As I detailed at least in 0.5: I am writing this piece because the level of rigor used by others to assess the information we already have is an affront to my morals.
To expand: the options of Luigi assessments one can consume at the moment appear to be from people who have read all his social media but are zealots cherrying picking it to fit into their preferred narrative (such as yourself); or people who are fairly rigorous thinkers (Gurwinder, Urban, and Skallas) but who are either uninterested in him and thus have not done much research (Urban, Skallas), are more interested in covering their ass with "murder bad! any one who read me and did this MUST have misunderstood me!" (All three of them), or using him as an example of who NOT to be to cast themselves into prominence (Gurwinder, a little bit Skallas).
It is likely this series will increase traffic to my blog, true. And some additional thoughtful readers might be nice. But traffic from people such as yourself make my life worse. I would much prefer if you guys did not read or engage with anything I write. And this would actually help both of us, given that everytime you comment, share, or discuss me you only increase my reach and relevance. If one wishes to grift maxx, "all new is good news".
With that said, the other things true of the aforementioned trio I will not be doing. In fact, I am writing this precisely because I find them as low integrity and borderline unethical. And I hope to provide something which I would respect.
As a final note, if it's any consolation: I can assure you that I am only losing money by caring about this at all (even if every single person who subscribes to this blog paid me $10 a month, I would still be losing money) and that I will likely go dark for a while after the series is published so I can get away from all this attention.
I will be muting you and no longer engaging with any of your comments moving forward, but I do wish you all the best and hope that at the end of all this you will agree that I have behaved honorably and respectably.
good day.
I ain't reading all that
I'm happy for you tho
or sorry it happened
This is really humanising!! Thank you for sharing
that's the goal :) glad you liked it.
I noticed you missed/skipped some of the books.
Jun 2017
• Marked "Want to Read": Professional Idiot: A Memoir by Stephen Steve-O Glover.
Nov 2018
• Marked "Read": The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J. R. R. Tolkien.
• Marked "Read": Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker. Liked a quote.
Jan 2019
• Marked "Want to Read": Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
Feb 2019
• Marked as "Read" 2 times: Professional Idiot: A Memoir by Stephen Steve-O Glover. Rated 4 stars.
Oct 2019
• Marked "Read": Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card.
Nov 2020
• Marked "Want to Read": Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight. (TMI: The boss of his then-girlfriend recommended it to him. She is the daughter of https://shorturl.at/RSil1)
Jan 2021
• Marked "Read": Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know by Malcolm Gladwell. Rated 3 stars.
Mar 2021
• Marked "Read": Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight. Rated 4 stars.
Feb 2023
• Marked "Read": Becoming a Supple Leopard: The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance by Dr. Kelly Starrett. Rated 4 stars.
Jan 2024
• Marked "Read": Introduction to Algorithms by Thomas H. Cormen. Rated 3 stars.
also your autism is terrifyingly powerful please do not hurt me
Looked into this. I was confused because I was familiar with all of these books on his list but you are right they were not included in the article. I realized that for most of them its because he did not list a "date read" for them only a "date shelved" which messed up my process of looking at "date read" to add them to the piece. For a few it looks like I just missed them though.
I have added all now. Thanks for pointing them out and for even pre-formatting them. That saved me a bunch of time!
Lastly, do you have source for your comment about Shoe Dog? the link you included appears to be dead.
hmmm that's weird. Perhaps I missed a page or something. Will review.
The piece of writing that best reveals his personality, and perhaps his true motive, is "How Christianity Prospered by Appealing to the Lower Classes of Ancient Rome." Read it carefully, then read it again. Between the lines, you’ll find traces of his subconscious. And if you’re a believer in Jungian synchronicity, it’s no surprise that it’s saved as "Mangione Final Draft."
I've read it multiple times. You present an interesting thesis. IF Luigi had an underlying desire all along to overthrow the ruling class then this would certainly fit that narrative. Keep in mind that he wrote it at age 15, so it literally would have had to be something boiling up in him for his entire post-pubescent life.
However, I personally think this narrative is more likely an egregore of his supporters who support him precisely because they believe that *should* happen and who presume that Luigi is 1) guilty and 2) motivated by that. And then are ex post facto looking for justification to support their preferred narrative.
As someone who is coming at this with no preconceived narrative or preference, only writing about it because I was thrust into it due to our interpersonal association rather than because I actually care much about the shooting, I see little if any evidence to suggest that Luigi had this desire prior to July 2024 based on his social media activity.
Obviously, it's possible that something changed dramatically in the succeeding 6 months, or that it was all hidden offline. But doesn't seem the most likely explanation to me at least.
Max, first off, thank you for your original post and for putting together the timeline of events and history, it’s been incredibly helpful in understanding Luigi in a chronological context. I also appreciate you engaging with me in this discussion.
To clarify, my thesis isn’t that Luigi had an underlying desire to overthrow the ruling class. Rather, I believe this piece of writing is of paramount significance to understanding his personality and psyche. I may not know exactly why yet, though I have some hypotheses, but I’m certain that this paper is (a) key to deciphering his way of thinking.
Before getting into what I think the paper reveals about him, I want to start by outlining why I believe it is so critical in the first place.
1. It was deeply important to Luigi. He wrote it at 15 and years later reposted it on Twitter. This wasn’t a major academic thesis. While he may have been proud of an A+ (though, to be clear, I have no idea if he did, just speculating) that alone doesn’t explain why he shared it years later. I imagine he’s had no shortage of A-grade papers throughout his academic career. But this one, for whatever reason, stood out to him. This suggests that the themes in the paper weren’t just passing thoughts but central to his intellectual framework.
2. It’s the longest, most structured insight into his thinking that we have. Most of what we see from him is fragmented: tweets, soundbites, offhand comments. This paper, however, gives us a deliberate, extended exploration of an idea he found worth dissecting.
My Hypothesis on What the Paper Means
The title alone, "How Christianity Prospered by Appealing to the Lower Classes of Ancient Rome" is worth exploring. The emphasis on how rather than why is striking. At an age when most people engage with religion through moral or philosophical inquiry, Luigi bypasses those questions entirely and instead examines Christianity’s success as a system. He doesn’t debate whether it was good or bad, whether it uplifted people or manipulated them, he focuses purely on how it worked. This kind of approach prioritizes understanding mechanics over assigning value judgement and may suggest a weaker J function and a stronger P function (?).
Most religious discussions, whether from believers or skeptics, tend to center on faith’s role in shaping individuals and societies. Luigi, however, flips the perspective. Instead of asking how Christianity benefited society, he asks how society benefited Christianity. It's not a way of engaging with religion that I’ve seen often (though not unusual). Even among the biggest names in religious and philosophical discourse. Thinkers like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Cornel West, Robert P. George, and Carlos Eire approach religion through moral, historical, or ideological lenses, debating its impact on human flourishing, its philosophical coherence, or its historical significance. Even when critiquing religion, figures like Dawkins and Hitchens focus on what it claims to be versus what it does. Luigi, however, appears to sidestep these questions entirely. His focus is strikingly pragmatic, analyzing religion not as a belief system but as an adaptable, self-sustaining mechanism.
One of the more intriguing (and flawed) aspects of the paper is his assertion that Christianity showed no mercy to non-believers, enforcing strict punishment. This suggests a rather superficial engagement with Christian theology, one that reduces complex doctrines to blunt institutional tactics. It’s fascinating that someone so attuned to the mechanics of belief does not seem particularly concerned with its substance. It raises the question: Was he uninterested in the faith itself, or was he simply more captivated by the ways it was wielded as a tool of influence?
I anticipate pushback on this interpretation (and I'm happy to keep engaging with the text) but in many ways the paper presents Luigi as someone who is highly attuned to how power operates but seemingly detached from deeper ideological or moral convictions. He recognizes what moves people, who is most susceptible to being moved, and the structural forces at play; but there is little indication that he personally aligns with or believes in the systems he analyzes.
If you use this paper as a foundational framework to analyze his other statements and writings, a clearer picture of his mindset begins to emerge. Take, for example, his alleged manifesto, where he rationalizes his actions by saying that killing the CEO "checks off all the boxes." This doesn’t indicate a personal sense of injustice, it suggests he was tapping into a broader societal grievance, something resonating in the collective consciousness. But to what end?
A truly justice-driven personality, like an INFJ or ENFJ, would likely exhibit a more transparent, traceable logic; an eye for an eye sense of justice. If Luigi were motivated by direct retribution, his focus would presumably be on the doctor who harmed him, not on a CEO detached from his personal suffering. His actions don’t align with moral justice but rather suggest a more abstract motive, possibly one less about righting a wrong and more about wielding power, commanding attention, and seizing influence for its own sake.
This was an interesting read and so insightful. Never delete this comment
Thanks for the thorough timeline, Max! IIRC, there was another (Twitter?) interaction he had with Gurwinder the Grifter where GtG posted something about curating social media feeds. Luigi’s reply was akin to “Show us how Gurwinder!” Hoping others know what I’m referring to and it can get added to this timeline. I wonder how much of this was “raw” LM vs. what he wanted to leave behind.
Brb, going to touch grass.
IIRC that was in a private DM with Gurwinder but i haven't been keeping up with that stuff. If you find it, send my way.
I reread the Gurwinder article and it’s not really clear. I’d only assumed it was private.
“On June 10th, I received my last communication from Luigi. It was a seemingly innocent request; he wanted me to help him curate his social media feed. I’d already given him tips on how to do that, so the question struck me as odd. I directed him to a relevant article I’d written and offered to answer any questions he had about it. I never heard from him again.
In retrospect, I wonder if his request was an awkward cry for help, as a New York Times journalist told me it was his last known online communication. It’s hard not to wonder if, had I answered his call, things might have turned out differently.”