leo burghaus

This will be a short post; it’s what my mind went through yesterday after going down the Luigi rabbit hole.

I’m assuming he killed Brian Thompson. I haven’t read that he or his defense argued he didn’t, so I’ll use the assumption as a basis. Maybe I’m wrong. Even if I’m not, it doesn’t mean he is legally guilty.

I’m also assuming the reader is familiar with the events and the trial.

From the personal

I can empathize with him in many senses. I think he is a product of the time: a boy from a good background who is supposed to be grateful for his opportunity in life, becoming an adult and realizing how screwed up part of the system is. It’s difficult to find your place if you’re ambitious but also have a conscience. He, like many others, is struggling with that.

I’ve seen some criticism about the content he consumed and his supposedly shallow philosophy. But it’s an understandable moment he was in intellectually. One’s intellectual development has many phases, and he is in one which most men go through. Most of us, me included, are drawn to certain opinions or even currents of thought that might have obvious gaps but speak to something that makes us believe we do have a spot in this world—especially at the age he’s in. We eventually grow out of it.

All currents of thought have issues and fair criticisms; so how true it is, is not as important as the fact that it gives us the opportunity to stand up for something. You can’t blame the guy for not being the deepest philosopher or having a bullet-proof set of ideas at 26: I can imagine that he wanted to live life and had limited time to spend on his intellectual quests. If you’re studying computer science, have an active life, are a social person, do sports, visit family, and want to have some leisure… you’re lucky if you can get some time weekly to read some books and blogs, or write, or think about, well, everything.

This is not to say he is right. It is important to point out the flaws in his philosophy and to hold a mirror to others who think the same way. But it is also important to note that Luigi does not stand alone in the way he developed his set of ideas, and that even in Europe, I see him as quite a normal dude without obvious flaws. I think I would get along with him.

It did go obviously wrong at some point though. I can sympathize with him in the years leading up to the events. I can understand that he was frustrated with the healthcare system, seeing what happened to him. I can understand that he thought that extreme action might have a more positive impact than fighting the system from within. So, I understand that he thought of it, but I can’t grasp why he decided it was worth it. He looks like a conscientious person; I’m surprised that he took the decision to follow through.

And I’m surprised because of one simple reason: if he was being honest with himself, there must have been a certain part in him that told him ‘big man, maybe we’re a bit too young or not in the right mental framework at the moment to take such a big decision. Why don’t we park the idea for a while and come back if we need to in a while?’. He obviously planned the assassination, but it was an emotional decision. He desired to do it and found a rational justification for it. I’m just surprised because I usually think people with his track record would have pretty good mental frameworks for these things to slip through. And I think it must have dawned on him by now that it was probably not a good idea. There must have been some event, or medicine cocktail, or an ayahuasca trip, that tipped the scale and did damage.

In any case, I am sorry for him because I don’t think he meant it. I can imagine he does feel sorry for the children of Brian Thompson by now. I think sooner rather than later, he will realize that he was in the wrong, and he won’t have a chance to make it up. In a moment of mental unclarity, he stepped over the line and won’t be able to make it back.

From the legal

We shouldn’t argue about ‘he should be set free’ or ‘he needs to be in prison his whole life’. Nobody is to decide but the legal system. Luigi has (presumably) killed a person and planned to do it. He went on the run and got caught, so he was trying to get away with it. This needs to be tried and if there is enough viable proof, he should get his sentence accordingly.

On the other hand, it looks like the police screwed up with the evidence as well. The Feds are doing a whole show in their own little play, and there are serious questions about how this case has been handled by the authorities. These are things that will need to be taken under consideration in the trial and might lead to a reduced sentence—which would be fair as well. Not fair because you or I believe he deserves less or more time, but because you’d want your legal system to not permit abuses of power.

The only winner there can be in this trial is the judicial system in the US: I think citizens should be concerned about how the case has been handled and want both a fair trial for Luigi and consequences for the mistakes the feds have made. A fair trial for Luigi, I want to point out, does not mean he gets to walk: again, he has (presumably) killed a man, and he will face a tough sentence. Fair means that he gets what he deserves, not more, not less.

From the social

There is one thing I find noteworthy: he didn’t really change much, right? Many thought, when it happened, that this would put a dent into the American Healthcare System. That it might be the beginning of a revolution. But it all just kept going normally, just that now the CEOs probably spend more on bodyguards.

Who knows, maybe Luigi calculated that his sacrifice would lead to a greater good and is now disappointed to see that it was, apparently, for nothing.

Because nothing really significant came from it, he is not a hero. At least for now. Maybe the effects are delayed in time and history will prove he is, in fact, a hero. But for now, he is a 26 year old that went rogue and killed someone.

If he’s a villain or not will depend on your definition of villain. As per Cambridge, a villain:

a bad person who harms other people or breaks the law.

He obviously broke the law and harmed other people. But personally, I don’t consider him a bad person, just a flawed individual that fell victim to a combination of internal and external factors, and some unfortunate decisions.

So, for me, neither a hero nor a villain, just the main character of a tragedy. So, a tragic hero, maybe.