A few articles about Charlie Kirk’s assassination and the response to it that I think are worth reading.
That Kirk, who became famous for participating in viral political debates, was gunned down on a university campus is a tragedy, period. And seeing such brutal violence up close can take a psychological toll on observers, the long-term effects of which are harder to gauge. It’s one thing to hear about a murder, or to read about it; it’s another to see it as it happened, over and over.
Will Gottsegen
The Awful Ubiquity of Charlie Kirk’s Assassination Video (The Atlantic)
Most predictable is MAGA’s exploiting Kirk’s murder to incite even more violence. MAGA influencers are calling for all-out war and encouraging Donald Trump to use the power of the state to wage it. Not that Trump needed encouragement, as his own statement blamed the “radical left” for the shooting and promised retribution.
Melissa Ryan
Half-Mast (Alt-Right-Delete)
Kirk is being posthumously celebrated by much of the mainstream press as a noble sparring partner for center-left politicians and pundits. Meanwhile, the very real, very negative, and sometimes violent impacts of his rhetoric and his political projects are being glossed over or ignored entirely.
Jason Koebler, Samantha Cole
Charlie Kirk Was Not Practicing Politics the Right Way (404 Media)
Scott Boehmer 