Luigi Mangione 2

When the Luigi Mangione story broke, it felt like something straight out of a Netflix documentary pitch: a young, intelligent Ivy League graduate with a painful backstory and a grudge against corporate America, now at the centre of a brutal murder case.

But what’s grabbed headlines just as much as the crime itself is the unsettling wave of admiration he’s inspired. People online are calling him a “king,” dressing like him, even turning him into a meme. And while it’s easy to dismiss this as just dark internet humour, it says a lot about the times we’re living in.

Let’s start with the obvious: Mangione’s alleged actions are horrifying. A targeted killing, meticulously planned, carried out in broad daylight... there’s no excusing that. A man lost his life, a family lost their father. Yet somehow, Mangione has become a figurehead for anger and frustration, particularly among those disillusioned with capitalism and America’s healthcare system.

How does that happen?

Part of it lies in the narrative. Mangione isn’t just any accused criminal. He’s the “valedictorian gone rogue,” the bright, wealthy young man who seemingly had it all before spiralling into social isolation, pain, and, ultimately, violence. It’s a story that taps into something primal, the idea that even the most promising among us can be broken by a society that doesn’t care for its people.

Then there’s the manifesto. The phrase “these parasites had it coming” may be chilling, but for those who feel crushed by medical debt or corporate greed, it resonates in a dark, unsettling way. It’s the kind of rhetoric that channels collective anger, even if the act itself is indefensible. In Mangione, people see someone who allegedly acted on the rage they feel every time they see an unaffordable medical bill or hear about CEOs pocketing millions while workers struggle to make ends meet.

But let’s not romanticise this. Admiring Mangione isn’t a rebellion; it’s a symptom. It speaks to a generation that feels unheard and trapped, where violence becomes a twisted form of expression. It’s not about agreeing with what he allegedly did, it’s about what his story represents. And that’s terrifying.

Social media plays a massive role in all this, of course. Platforms like TikTok and X   turn events into trends, where even the darkest moments can be meme-ified in minutes. For some, sharing a photo of Mangione or jokingly calling him a “hero” is less about actual admiration and more about participating in the narrative. But for others, it’s deadly serious. That’s where things get dangerous.

What’s also unsettling is how quickly people are willing to empathise with Mangione while glossing over the real victim here. Brian Thompson, a father of two, didn’t deserve to be turned into a symbol of corporate greed simply because of his job title. He was a person, a human being with a family who loved him, and that’s being overshadowed in this morbid fascination with the alleged killer.

It’s worth asking why we’re so drawn to these stories in the first place. Is it the drama? The complexity? The way they force us to confront uncomfortable truths about our world? Whatever the reason, cases like this one remind us that our reactions often reveal as much about us as they do about the event itself.

For Mangione’s so-called admirers, it’s a wake-up call. Glorifying violence, even indirectly, only adds fuel to the fire. If you’re angry at the system (and let’s face it, many of us are) there are better ways to channel that rage. Real change doesn’t come from idolising vigilantes; it comes from working to fix the structures that create this level of desperation in the first place.

And for the rest of us? It’s a reminder to be cautious about the narratives we buy into. Mangione’s story is complex, and while it might be tempting to see him as a tragic figure or an anti-hero, it’s more important to focus on the human cost of what’s happened. A man is dead. A family is grieving. And nothing about that is admirable.

The fascination with Mangione isn’t just about him. It’s about us - our frustrations, our fears, and our collective sense of disillusionment.

But if we’re ever going to move forward, we need to stop looking to figures like Mangione for answers. Because whatever questions his story raises, violence will never be the solution.

And deep down, we all know that.

2. First World Countries: 

There are a number of factors that contribute to being considered a First World Country, even though the term that is used more often these days is Developed and Developing countries.

Choose one from the list and explain its role and importance in making a country a First World / Developed country

	Its Importance	Why?
Having a Democratic Government
Having a Stable Economy that is often Capitalistic
Being Industrialized
Having a High National Income
Having a High Press Freedom Rating
Placing a Very High Importance in the way a Country's Vulnerable Groups are Treated

3.Vocabulary

    Paragraph 1

1.	Clean up its act	a.	An available position or job
2.	Dirt cheap	b.	Begin to behave in a better way
3.	Employs	c.	Famous for something negative
4.	Vacancy	d.	At a very low cost
5.	Notorious	e.	Gives work to
6.	Tackle	f.	Make determined efforts to deal with a problem or difficult task
7.	Corporate tax rate	g.	An amount of money that companies must pay based on their income

    Paragraph 2

8.	Breakaway	h.	Make an effort or attempt to achieve.
9.	Filthy	i.	An official document giving someone authorization to do something.
10.	Watchdog	j.	Is a propaganda term, mostly used during the Cold War from 1945 to 1991, to refer to the Western Bloc and aligned countries, the non-communist part of the world
11.	Red tape	k.	Something that takes much longer than it should and involves an excessive amount of procedures, forms, or rules
12.	Bid	l.	Disgustingly dirty
13.	Permit (n.)	m.	A group or region  that has separated itself from a larger group or region because of a disagreement.
14.	The Free World	n.	A person or organization responsible for making certain that companies obey particular standards and do not act illegally.

   Paragraph 3

1.	Hub	a.	An established or official way of doing something.
2.	Procedures	b.	The total income a company makes  before subtracting any expenses.
3.	"It"	c.	Help to improve
4.	Boost	d.	To reconsider an action very carefully before starting
5.	Think twice	e.	An arrival or entry of large numbers of people or things.
6.	Revenue	f.	The effective centre of an activity, region, or network.
7.	Influx 8. Heading	g.	Referring to  a person, place or thing that is exceptionally fashionable, popular, or successful at a particular time. i. The direction that something is going to

4. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1. Firms
2. Overseas
3. Set up
4. Former
5. Cliché 
6. Whopping
7. Recall
8. Lists
9.  Issue
10.  Vibrant
11. Influx

1.  Started
2. Abroad
3. Companies
4. Registers
5. Previous
6.  Problem
7. Remember
8. Very large
9. Stereotype
10. Lively
11. Inundation

5.Role play: What are the best ways to improve a country's economy? Choose one from this list (or not from the list).

Role  A – Invest in Education

Role  B – Tax Breaks

Role  C – Investment in Infrastructure

Role  D – Deregulation (the process of removing government controls or rules from businesses or industries) Role E-  Protect Local Businesses From Foreign Competitors Role F- Promote Exports Role G-  Safeguard Industries That Are Vital To National Security Role H-  Shift Employment Away From Agriculture And Into Manufacturing Role I - Something not from the list 6. Moldova is a country that goes unnoticed by most. If you ask a Moldovan about their country, they might say that it is very beautiful but many people either don't know it or don't appreciate it. In other words, it is considered very                                 . Choose a village, a town, a city, or a country  that you have been to that fits this description and discuss it. 7.Fill in the blanks: 1. According to the Prime Minister of Moldova, it is a small country that is improving and growing very quickly. It is an                                    country. 2. If Moldova was a very powerful and influential country in the past but now it is not anymore, then it is a                      . 4. Moldova does not have access to a sea. It is a                             country. 5. Barcelona does have access to the sea. It is a                         city. 6. If you decide that Moldova is on a list of countries that you must visit before you die, then visiting Moldova is on your                             . 7. You would like to go leave Spain for one year and travel all over Eastern Europe. However, you would like to keep your job in Spain. You ask your employer if you can take a                                    . This means that while you will not be working for a whole year and you will not be receiving any income, but your company will keep your position available for you once you return to work. 8. Moldova is a very small country with a population of 2.5 million.  It is often                         by its neighboring countries Romania and Ukraine, who have a much bigger economy and population. 9. If the most educated of the country choose to immigrate to other places, then the country suffers from                             . 10. A person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster is a                      . 11. If someone chooses to leave their country for a business opportunity or for retirement reasons, they are an                  . The might return again and live in their country sometime in the future (or not). 12. If someone decides to leave their country permanently and start a new life in another country, they are an                  . 13. If someone is living in a foreign country illegally, they are referred to as                               . 14. Someone who travels a lot and to many different places around the world is called a                     .  15. If someone is living in a foreign country because they cannot live in their own country because of  political reasons, they are                              . 16. If you are from Spain, then you are a                  . The objects, language, cuisine , culture and other things from Spain are called                   .  17. If you have parents or grandparents who are from Portugal, then you have Portuguese                   .  18. If you moved to a new country but you are missing your home country, then you are                    . 19.If you moved to a new country and initially disliked it but after some time has passed, you are beginning to like it more and are adapting to the culture better, then the new country is                    on you. 20. What is Europe's nickname?

1. 8.QUESTIONS
2. What sectors in Spain have the most red tape? Explain.
3. What is the difference between an expat and an immigrant?
4. What are some stereotypes people have of Eastern Europe?
5. What are the characteristics that make Spain qualify as a First World/Developed Country? 
6. Do you have any experiences in  Eastern Europe?