"His actions are like a virus" — Unabomber's brother feels "pain" at the thought Luigi Mangione could have been inspired by his "disturbed" sibling

David Kaczynski, the brother of Ted Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber, recently broke his silence on the speculations that his brother's manifesto could have inspired Luigi Mangione. On December 9, Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate, was arrested in Pennsylvania as a suspect in the murder of UHC CEO Brian Thompson, who was shot outside a hotel in Manhattan on December 4.

David Kaczynski's statement regarding Mangione came after an online search unearthed his Goodreads review of the Unabomber's 35,000-word essay titled Industrial Society and Its Future, with a 4/5 rating.

Speaking with NBC on December 10, Kaczynski called his brother a "very angry and disturbed man." He also said the Unabomber's actions were "like a virus," adding:

'To the extent that he [the Unabomber] may have attributed at all to sort of normalizing or recasting the violent acts as beneficial to humanity is a terrible mistake. His actions are like a virus. They could be like a virus unless they understand he was a very angry and disturbed man. It doesn't mean his ideas are ideas of a lunatic, but his behavior, I believe, is the behavior of a lunatic."

Kaczynski added that he felt "personal pain" at the thought of Luigi Mangione being allegedly influenced by his brother's actions.

"Many factors go into a person's motivation that they drastically act like this, and I hope my brother wasn't in a way a key model for him. It really gives me a great deal of personal pain to think my brother's actions have in any way contributed to influencing a man like this to kill an innocent human being," he said.

For the unversed, the Unabomber was an American mathematician who engaged in a 17-year mail bombing campaign till his arrest in 1996. His mail bombs left three dead and 23 injured between 1978 and 1995.

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Luigi Mangione called the Unabomber "an extreme political revolutionary" in his review

Luigi Mangione was arrested at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania five days after Brian Thompson's murder on December 4. His arrest came after a patron called 911 when they spotted the alleged shooter at the establishment, claiming to have recognized him through photos circulated on the news.

Police found a ghost gun, money, a three-page handwritten manifesto, fake IDs, and his US passport when they arrested Mangione. He was detained at State Correctional Institution Huntingdon after arraignment, where he was denied bail.

According to NBC News, Luigi Mangione was charged with murder in New York. He also faces five separate charges in Pennsylvania relating to forgery and possession of a weapon.

Luigi Mangione's arrest sparked a deep dive into his online activity. Netizens found his Goodreads account with over 300 books on his list. They also found his review of the Unabomber's manifesto, in which he dubbed the domestic terrorist "an extreme political revolutionary.”

“It’s easy to quickly and thoughtless(ly) write this off as the manifesto of a lunatic, in order to avoid facing some of the uncomfortable problems it identifies. But it’s simply impossible to ignore how prescient many of his predictions about modern society turned out," Luigi Mangione wrote.

“He was a violent individual – rightfully imprisoned – who maimed innocent people. While these actions tend to be characterized as those of a crazy luddite, however, they are more accurately seen as those of an extreme political revolutionary,” he continued.

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Mangione fights extradition to New York

On December 10, Mangione attended his extradition hearing at the Blair County Courthouse. According to CNN, the alleged suspect is reportedly fighting his extradition to New York, where he faces a murder charge.

During his court appearance, Luigi Mangione addressed the media gathered outside the courthouse, yelling:

"It’s completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience!”

Police were quick to usher him into the building after his statement. His attorney, Thomas Dickey, said his client would not plead guilty to his charges. He also said he was not convinced that Mangione was Thompson's killer, adding no evidence pointed towards this.

He added that his office had received emails from people offering to cover Luigi Mangione's legal fees. This came after many online dubbed the alleged shooter a "hero" amid rising concerns about the US's healthcare system and growing disdain towards health insurance companies.