Maybe Martin Shkreli is a hero. Maybe he is a widely, and deliberately, misunderstood man who is on a mission towards what he believes to be a better future for everyone.
Maybe watching his Eastern European immigrant parents work as janitors to support their family taught him the value of hard work. Maybe growing up in the political environment and rhetoric surrounding the Reagan and Bush (Sr) years developed in him a steely resolve to conquer the American dream. Maybe, having done so, it killed Shkreli to see how much more difficult it has become for someone like him, growing up in today’s world, to do the same. Maybe that’s why he donated a million dollars to the high school he attended (but may not have graduated) in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.
Maybe he saw that this was clearly not enough, and he needed to do something radical, something outrageous, to bring attention to the excesses of runaway capitalism. Maybe that’s why he raised the price of a life-saving drug by 5,556% even as his associates advised him that this may not be a profitable move. Maybe, when chemist and blogger Derek Lowe’s wrote that Shkreli’s plan posed “a serious risk of bringing the entire pricing structure of the industry under much heavier scrutiny and regulation”, Shkreli was going through the intense turmoil of realizing that finally someone understood what he was trying to do, but not being able to say anything out loud about it to them or to anyone else. Maybe Shkreli’s allegedly deceitful conduct amounting to securities fraud during his tenure at his hedge fund was part of the same strategy. Maybe, when saying that “what Shkreli did wrong was to be more audacious while playing the same game many others are playing on Wall Street and in corporate suites”, what political commentator Robert Reich did not realize that this was by design.
Maybe Shkreli is holding up a mirror to society and showing it the monster it has created in its most obvious form, because he thinks that this is the only way to pry open our willingly and stubbornly shut eyes. Maybe he is like Gandhi, or Mandela, in a way. Maybe, just like they showed the world the absurdity of the socio-political realities in their countries by getting arrested for championing human rights and fighting repression, he is showing us the absurdity of the current economic paradigm by not getting arrested while engaging in what everyone sees as reprehensible behavior.
Maybe when the US Congress subpoenaed him, he inwardly thought, “Good. Finally!” Maybe when Republican Congressman and lifelong campaigner against government intervention in healthcare John Mica expresses concern about rapidly rising drug prices, Shkreli’s heart jumps with a joy that only the success of an incredibly elaborate scheme can bring. Maybe his irreverent attitude toward the Congressional hearing is an indication that he has buckled down for the long haul, and is not going to rest until he sees meaningful change.
Maybe none of the above is true. Maybe Shkreli really is the sort of unhinged sociopathic character that so many people believe him to be. Maybe, though, if we all just believe, it doesn’t matter what the reality is.
Maybe Martin Shkreli is a hero.
