constantly telling someone in a vulnerable situation that they’re a hero can have significant psychological consequences. To me, that’s actually one interesting aspects of this case, and it probably deserves a separate post of its own.
I was also very interested on how this has effected him and his ego... Especially, as you say how in prison, information is filtered, mediated through other people, limited or skewed.
Can you go into detail about this topic?
Disclaimer: the discussion that follows assumes the possibility that Luigi is guilty
This is a complex and somewhat technical topic, and I’ll do my best to explain it as clearly as possible.
Premise: when a person kills another human being — regardless of who that person is or how morally reprehensible they may be — it profoundly alters their relationship with themselves, with other people, and with their own moral framework. This means that if Luigi is guilty, he will never be the same person he was before 2024.
When the entire world tells someone, “You’re a hero,” several psychological dynamics can emerge:
Luigi risks no longer being recognized by others — and, more importantly, by himself — as a multifaceted human being. Instead, he risks being reduced solely to the act he allegedly committed.
This is particularly dangerous because the psychological work he would eventually need to do is the exact opposite: understanding that he is a person, and that the act is only one part of his story. He would need to integrate aspects of himself that often feel impossible to reconcile (I realize that sounds paradoxical).
Otherwise, there is a risk that he could spend the rest of his life identifying himself exclusively as “the man who killed someone,” or, conversely, completely dissociate himself from the act and view it as something unrelated to who he is.
Even if someone were to kill Hitler, it would still be normal to experience conflicting emotions: relief, guilt, anger, pride, disgust, and many others.
But if the world keeps telling you, “You did the right thing,” it becomes much harder to acknowledge the negative emotions that may also be present, because the message you receive is that you are not supposed to feel them.
One of the most helpful things for a person in that position would be understanding that it is entirely acceptable to experience mixed and contradictory feelings about what happened.
It is important that guilt remains possible, because guilt reflects the continued recognition of the other person’s humanity.
I discussed this in one of my earliest posts: in order to kill someone, a certain degree of dehumanization is often necessary. It is a psychological state that allows the act to become possible, even if only temporarily. Over time, however, it becomes important to reconnect with the reality that, regardless of how objectionable that person may have been, they were still a human being.
If the world constantly tells you that you were unquestionably right and should never question yourself, you may stop allowing yourself to feel guilt. The problem is that guilt cannot be avoided indefinitely. When it is chronically suppressed, it often resurfaces in other forms: nightmares, depression, intrusive thoughts, and so on.
This is a somewhat delicate point.
The risk is that Luigi could begin to believe that his value— and his importance to other people — exists only because of that act, rather than because of his qualities as a person.
Over time, this can create a dependence on the heroic image itself.
Even if the person was harmful, even if the person were Hitler, a death still represents a loss.
Heroization can make it difficult to recognize realities such as the fact that someone suffered because of BT’s death, or that death is irreversible, etc
Instead, one may become trapped in the belief that “only good came from what I did.”
In this post, I am not interested in debating whether the act was right or wrong, whether it was justified, whether it was worth it, or whether violence is ever necessary. Those are separate issues that we can discuss in other posts.
What interests me here is explaining the potential psychological consequences and, to a very limited extent, understand how to protect Luigi and his mind.
Personally, I think the healthiest approach for supporters is to view the act as “symbolic” , as a starting point for a broader social change. BUT that should be separated from Luigi as a person. Not turning him into a martyr. Not idolizing him. And, if one wishes to support him, doing so by treating him as a human being rather than a symbol.
(We should also remember that even the idea that his alleged actions were motivated by a “revolutionary” purpose remains speculation. We do not actually know his intentions unless and until he chooses to express them himself)
