Much to our horror, in the aftermath of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s Dec. 4 murder in Midtown Manhattan (allegedly by Luigi Mangione), the most popular posts on social media are ones that express support for — if not delight with — the brazen assassination of a successful business leader. (Thompson also was a father of two teenage sons.)

Reportedly, UnitedHealthcare’s own bereavement message, placed online, was cruelly mocked by 77,000 laughing response posts.

As for Mangione, 26, who withdrew from a life of privilege (as an Ivy League graduate software engineer), the supreme irony following his alleged murder of Thompson is that he not only was never insured by UnitedHeathcare, but that this man from a wealthy family is now widely portrayed as a crusading anti-capitalist who has been victimized by the evil system. 

Indeed, Mangione is hailed by many Americans as... gasp... a folk hero.

Further, while several of our readers have expressed their ire over  Mangione only being charged with second-degree murder in the killing, New York law says “a first-degree murder charge only applies to a narrow list of aggravating circumstances, including when the victim is a judge, a police officer or a first responder, or when the killing involves a murder-for-hire or an intent to commit terrorism,” legal experts told CNN.)

What’s more, the television sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live” reportedly ran into massive viewer criticism after it recently ran a skit mocking the response to the murder.

As noted in a Dec. 9 commentary in Yale Insights, “The etchings on the cold-blooded murderer’s bullet casings of ‘deny, defend, depose’ have become rallying cries for many, all while the investigation of the cold-blooded murder has been impeded by those sympathetic to the murderer’s outrage.

Narcissism is on the rise in the U.S. — and some therapists worry about “empathy fatigue,” but we think the hero worship of Mangione shows a lack of morality, coupled often with mental illness, among woke Americans.