I've been in transit for much of the time people have been scouring Luigi Mangione's internet footprint, unpacking his manifesto, and analyzing his Goodreads. Very few of the takes I've seen seem to glean what strikes me as most salient in all this. Walk with me [thread] - ThreadSky

joshuastephens.bsky.social • 103 days ago

I've been in transit for much of the time people have been scouring Luigi Mangione's internet footprint, unpacking his manifesto, and analyzing his Goodreads. Very few of the takes I've seen seem to glean what strikes me as most salient in all this.

Walk with me [thread]

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joshuastephens.bsky.social•103 days ago

So, our hero was a mid-20s tech guy, shook by chronic pain, grasping for ways out of that through a fumbling, cringe reading journey, who ultimately made an almost inexplicably bold move.

You know what that looks like to me? The early weeks of Zuccotti Park. aka Occupy Wall Street. Hear me out.

joshuastephens.bsky.social•103 days ago

The most reliable account of OWS origins available to anyone not physically present in Zuccotti is David Graeber's. I wasn't present for its inauguration, but I was in the park in its first week or so. And (love David as I do) I've always found his description of it romantic, reductive, & unhelpful.

joshuastephens.bsky.social•103 days ago

The young people who initially occupied Zuccotti were categorically NOT experienced activists steeped in direct democracy, leveraging a sophisticated analysis of capitalism. And I challenge anyone present for its early days to contest that. To buy that mythology is to miss what mattered.

joshuastephens.bsky.social•103 days ago

It's fair to say that the kids who initially seized Zuccotti were younger version of Mangione. They were 19-21yr olds in excruciating student debt, staring down the cold open of a financial crisis that would likely eviscerate any prospect of their ever achieving the footing they'd been promised.

joshuastephens.bsky.social•103 days ago

Their reading list and reference points were hardly better than Mangione's. My first time in Zuccotti, I was horrified; wanted nothing to do with it. I saw placards invoking the Rothschilds, JFK conspiracy, etc. It was a hodge-podge of incoherence, driven by inexperience and justifiable rage.

joshuastephens.bsky.social•103 days ago

At the time the only seasoned activist I knew really putting in hours in Zuccotti was Brooke Lehman - one of the key organizers of the 1999 Seattle uprising against the WTO, with whom I'd attended a Ruckus Society direct action training camp, and who later led my movement-building course at the ISE.

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