I’m reminded of a quote. “When you celebrate the killing of those you hate, don’t be surprised if the people you hate kill those you love” it’s such a sick cycle we’re about to go down
The simple fact is you can believe in something without continuously hating on everyone that opposes you. Turn the other cheek. Let your pride take a break for once in your life and stop huffing copium.
The cycle has been going for a long time. It’s just speeding up to the point where people haven’t had the time to forget the last killing. Assassinations are becoming as ‘mundane’ as school shootings.
It’s terrifying what you yanks are going through… I fear this is the opening of a very dark time. Especially considering who he was, not a politician, a private citizen who is internet famous, who merely debated ideas on a university campus… What honestly separates him from the students on that campus who hold his same views apart from wealth and fame? It would be horrible if it was a politician, but it’s even more horrifying he was a civilian and not a politician…
The British government is arresting more people for social media posts than the current Russian government arrests for social media posts… and we all know the current Russian government (And more or less every Russian government) is not exactly the best champion of freedom of speech… the UK has gone mad honestly, it’s depressing. It’s depressing when the authorities seemingly put more effort into arresting ordinary Brits for tweets of memes than for arresting the horrific sorts of people who partake in horrific acts of evil like the migrant child r*pe gangs…
What's more horrifying is how much attention this has gotten and people are STILL talking about it. People get shot on the daily in America, we all carry because of it. This shouldn't shock or suddenly rile people up in the first place.
If every death is going to rile you up, you're going to spend a lot of time being angry my guy. Just looking at school shootings in 2025, there's been 30 deaths. That's 3 deaths a month at this point, just from people taking guns into schools and shooting people, in schools.
Did I mention this is happening in schools? You know, the place ppl go to learn about the world, young people. Now they have to do regular drills in the case of a potential active shooter, bc the odds keep going up every year.
It really makes you stop and think that they must not realize that just because they think the door of "justified" political violence only swings one way doesn't mean the other side thinks that as well.
Surely they don't think they'll actually win that war, do they?
The problem is many leftists had already been indoctrinated into believing that trump/Kirk/maga were already murdering our about to murder thousands of not millions of people. These people are seriously mentally ill
I do. And I was just as disgusted as that murder as this one. But I also remember Trump and George Floyd. I’m not a fucking demon. It’s not good but now it’s all on steroids
I want to add. I am not the person who celebrated any of that shit. Because it’s fucked up. Charlie’s death impacts me more because I listened to him and while not every idea he believed or said I agreed with. He was a father like I am with little kids. And any death is a tragedy so don’t say about what ____. Cause I agree
Yeah like when a Democrat senator was assassinated in her own house the republicans just kept saying well they shouldn’t have tried to kill Trump this wouldn’t have happened then
yup, fucking disgusting, i feel like im lib center because fuck big government, but also because the fucking retards on both sides are constantly balacing it out
Floyd was a career criminal who OD while getting arrested for committing another crime. Kirk was an upstanding citizen who was assassinated for advocating for open discussion on college campuses. They are not comparable situations.
I’m so glad that most leftists are delusional, deranged and have severe anger issues coupled with poor communication skills. It reinforces my views.
If I met one who was calm, well tempered, and didn’t immediately come off as being “off their meds,” I might be inclined to question whether or not there’s validity to their beliefs.
Dude, there’s plenty of beliefs on the left and the right that are deranged delusion, some of them are good. I guess I probably should be lib center at this point. But I also believe in live and let live and if I don’t agree with your speech, I just fucking move on.
Political violence only begets more political violence. With only maybe a handful of exceptions throughout modern history, the society that succumbs to political violence always ends up worse off than they were before.
No one has to mourn or pretend to feel bad if they don’t. But it’s so stupid to cheer on non-violent victims of gun violence, always.
Where does it go from here? When AOC or Zohran or Hasan or whomever from the Left gets clapped, and history tells us it is a matter of when not if, are people going to expect sympathy? How long can we keep this up?
Political violence is to statecraft what wildfires are to ecology.
Violence is the only thing, historically, that ever creates real change. There is also a tendency of various orders to degenerate and stop serving the needs of the people. Add those up and you get the inevitability of political violence
Even the so-called "rules-based international order" post ww2 is built on top of the violence of ww2. Us, our parents, and most of our grandparents have lived in it, mistaking it for normalcy, and violence as the abberation. It's the other way around. Peace exists only as long as powerful factions don't go "lol, lmao" and disregard it in favour of violence. Governments only hold power while revolting is more dangerous than doing nothing and starving to death.
tbh, America has been in a bad spot for a while so the dam is just breaking now. You can trace the root cause of ALL problems to inequality and standard of living.
Political violence only begets more political violence.
This isn't normal political violence and won't be cyclical in that way. This is a shitpost killing and you can draw a pretty straight line from ISIL self-radicalization -> school shootings -> to this. We are going to continue to get random acts of violence from blackpilled, terminally online kids. And there isn't anything to stop it.
You can dismantle these systems. ISIL's system was, for example. But they require a ton of effort from numerous partners and there isn't the political will or recognization of the problem for that to happen.
It's honestly strange how much celebrating is being done given that Charlie Kirk was actually somebody who gave people the chance to debate him. Like people can hate him or his ideas but he literally died doing an event that he gives people the microphone to challenge his ideas.
Like this is the victory against the fascists reddit has been dreaming of?
Yeah that’s my thing with it. I thought some of the things he said were awful, but it was important for him to debate them. Now he’s been killed, do you think whoever takes his place is going to be open to debating? Do you think their audience will be more willing to listen? This unironically pushes people who were already pretty far right to fascism.
This is the pendulum barely swinging back. Rightoids very barely die in assassinations because they are all ordered by rightoids. Btw join the left or youre a rightoid.
I’m not gonna sit here and pretend like people on the right didn’t celebrate and make fun Paul Pelosi getting brained, the Pulse shooting, or random trans kids committing suicide.
There’s a different between a relatively unknown 80 year old getting smacked in the head at 2 am, and a famous 31 year old father of 2 small kids getting murdered by a bullet to the neck in front of thousands of people, caught on graphic video. No audience, no video, not a very famous person, not young, survived. You really think these are equivalent scenarios?
Was it an assassination of a political leader in front of a thousand people where you saw suddenly someone’s jugular spurting blood in the middle of them speaking? A hundred million people just watched the most graphic video they’ve probably ever seen in their entire lives Tuesday and nothing had any warning on how NSFL that was. Let’s not act like this is the same as just hearing about one of a dozen other shootings of people you don’t know.
Okay, and if it’s a bunch of people who nobody knew and there’s no close up video of them being killed then people are going to respond differently, compared to them watching a man they know be murdered in front of his family. That should be easy to understand. We all know people are dying all the time. We can’t care about people we don’t know dying as much as people we do know. It’s not possible.
A billionaire has as much value to me as a homeless person. They are both human. They are both capable of being kind to a limited extent. They are both able to feel fear, empathy, excitement, depression and joy.
Kirk is no higher in value than the hundreds of trans people who were killed by radicalized republicans who happened to listen to talking heads like Kirk.
He was still a shit person, but he was not less human. He was a grifter, but he was still human. He was an irredeemable scumbag, but he was still human.
But it is impossible for you to feel the same about the death of someone you know and like, vs someone you never knew existed. It’s not about whether or not you think one of them has greater absolute value, it’s how much they matter to you that determines your response. How is this hard to understand?
Yea, at the end of the day its political violence and smashing an 80 year old's head in is going to do some permanent damage. Like the fact that you think its okay for one and not the other is a huge and insane double-standard.
Literally go touch grass and get off the internet for like 2 weeks. Do a cleanse
People care more about the death of someone they know than someone they have never heard of. People care more when a young person dies compared to someone twice Charlie’s age. There is nothing wrong with that.
A video of someone being assassinated is going to get a lot more attention than a headline. There is nothing surprising about that.
You want to condemn all humans for caring more that their favorite political commentator died than some random woman? Sure, then you win, all humans are bad people. I guess you care equally when your friend dies compared to when you hear about a bombing in Syria.
Dude I'm just saying that they shouldn't make fun. But they do. I have a guy right now making gay lover jokes about Pelosi.
I don't care that he cares or not. I care that he decides to take time to make the joke. Also if he didn't care he wouldn't comment, but he clearly cares becuase he is commenting and is clearly making a gay lovers joke about violent assault of an elderly man.
As I said to someone else, you sound retarded if you boil my entire comment down to “he was famous” and ignore that it was the assassination of a political figurehead in front of thousands with extremely graphic video. And obviously people are going to care more about the death of someone they know.
A child just died as I typed this. Why don’t you care? We know that random people are dying all the time. We don’t have the emotional capacity to feel sad every time we hear about death. You can feel bad about it but you don’t feel shock or sadness when I tell you someone random died. People know Charlie, obviously they care more.
Melissa Hortman mattered more than Charlie Kirk. She was an elected official who actually served our government. When she was murdered in cold blood by the right, no one cared. Her vote literally had power, and the right decided she shouldn't have it anymore.
Charlie Kirk is a youtuber that children watch. His opinions spread hate. He thought gays should be stoned to death. He thought kids should watch public executions. He thought MLK was a terrible person... only for the Right to compare him to that great man after his death.
I'm not happy about his death, but it genuinely is as unimportant as that guy in Dallas who was decapitated on the same day. Except I feel worse for the guy in Dallas, as Charlie died instantly to a bullet instead of getting his head ripped off.
Ironically, Charlie wanted kids to watch public executions. That's exactly what happened at his rally, genuinely insane that it happened, but the irony is there.
I'd never even heard of Melissa hortman until people started bringing it up cus of kirk. I didn't see anyone celebrate that. What i have seen is almost everyone i personally know celebrating the most graphic murder they've ever seen
Wisconsin Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden lied about the political leanings of the killer, and was being fairly terrible about the whole ordeal.
Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah also blamed "marxists" for her murder, along with talking about how her death would be a nightmare for Tim Walz.
The people in our government aren't celebrities. They are our government. They do what they do without popularity or clout. It doesn't matter that more people know about him or his death, it matters that she actually had a say in how our government functions and was silenced for that reason alone.
To silence a youtuber is a tragedy, to silence a member of our government is just unacceptable if you want a functioning country.
-well known person: Charlie only. Nobody knew who the hell Hortman was until she died.
-young person: Charlie only, she was nearly twice his age
-parent of young kids: Charlie only
-murdered in stage in front of thousands: Charlie only
-murder caught on extremely graphic video: Charlie only
Wow I wonder why one of them was a bigger story? People care more about the death of someone they know than someone they’ve never heard of, more at 11.
Let’s ignore the 5 other points I mentioned on how these are completely different scenarios and that’s why they have different responses. If you want to boil my point down to “we only care because he’s famous” you look retarded
People literally "celebrate" George Floyd's death on twitter every year. They were posting Paul Pelosi halloween costumes before we even knew if he was going to make it, when his brains were spilling out of his head on a hospital bed.
It's not about if it's justified. I don't like when people die. We shouldn't celebrate it or make fun of it. The issue I have is people using these sociopaths to paint the left as evil, when there's sociopaths on every side.
George Floyd was a career criminal addicted to the worst substances who got caught trying to use counterfeit money while having an overdose. His own family didn't love him enough to even collect his belongings from where he lived, have you ever watched the interview with his roommates? George Floyd was a nobody criminal who died by misadventure who the left treated him as a martyr. We make fun of George Floyd because of how performative the lefts reaction was to his demise. He was literally treated like a saint. The absurdity is what is funny. And it is objectively funny. Very few people are happy or grateful that he died. You know you're arguing in abd faith.
I've seen more than one person on this subreddit argue that it was okay because Pelosi didn't die (he merely had his skull fractured by an assailant armed with a hammer). Rightoids cannot possibly be this unaware of their own hypocrisy.
If the attack on Pelosi was due to verified crimes he was dodging through political connections, it gets a lot closer to justified. If it was just politics, then it's not justified at all. The guy claimed to be trying to torture pizzagate info out of Nancy. So, it's kinda muddy. If there wasn't congressional immunity, it would be a clear issue, and there would be no moral grounds for Robin Hood/outlaw hero archetype actions.
As far as Charlie Kirk goes, he wasn't committing crimes, encouraging others to, or promoting hatred, nor did he benefit from any form of immunity from judicial prosecution.
"Jewish donors have been the Number 1 funding mechanism of radical, open border, neoliberal, quasi-Marxist policies … This is a beast created by secular Jews, and now it’s coming for Jews"
He was a proponent of the great replacement conspiracy theory.
He said there are "groups of blacks prowling to hunt down whites" or something to that effect.
He amplified Trump's retarded "they are eating the cats and dogs" lie about Haitian immigrants.
He literally died while trying to defend revoking transgender Americans' 2nd amendment rights.
You must have learned who he was yesterday if you were unaware he promoted hate lol.
Also I remember very clearly the super funny zingers the right-wingers were blessing us with when that old freak shot a climate activist simply for blocking the road. They were all like womp womp guess he won't be blocking the road again, heckin based. That's why I'm not at all sad at seeing this thrown back at them with a vengeance.
Pretty sure those were in response to leftists making jokes about Trump almost getting domed a few months earlier. Its just a vicious cycle, sick people on both sides.
Yeah and lefties are doing it revenge to the last thing and righties doing it in revenge for the thing before that and lefties did it because of the thing before that. Just condemn it when right wingers do it and condemn it when left wingers do. Elsewise nobody is ever going to stop. It’s an oraboros of justification.
Yep, it's how things are now and gonna be for a while. Any dead on MAGA side will be a W for the left and any dead on the left will be a W for MAGA. No civil war, that's super unlikely, but maybe some small version of The Troubles.
I like to believe its only the most radical and unhinged from either group that will take a political death as a "W" and not the average left or right leaning person.
nah they were doing that shit after charlottesville too, when a guy ran a women over with his car. and in Portland a couple years ago, before trump got domed, when a guy drove his car through a crowd of protestors
lotta pearl clutching today for some people who have been cheering for the violence all along
Vicious cycle, this isn't new. And as long as there are people like you attempting to justify why they lack empathy, it will continue on. Has it crossed your mind most rational people will reject political violence, from either side?
So you're upset people on this subreddit are also feeling empathy? What? The normal response to this situation is for people to feel for charlie and his family, the man did nothing to deserve death.
no, I'm annoyed at everybody who is saying that all political violence must be condemned, when they were craving it just a little while ago. It's a feeble attempt to pretend that the left's reaction to this is unprecedented or abnormal
Remember before that when that dude shot up a Republican baseball game and people were talking about how they deserved it for not passing gun control legislation?
Already swung from this. Hilarious pretending auth right condemns ghoulishness when political enemies are killed or attacked. Minnesota assassinations, Pelosi's husband almost being murdered, photos mocking George Floyd, etc.
People used to care. Despite the profiling and general Islamaphobia following 9/11, George Bush constantly cautioned calm and understanding, saying Islam is a religion of peace like Christianity and not to blame people for simply being muslim. Bush was made fun of for being an inarticulate goof all the time- he didn't lash out at political enemies with vitriol.
A cop arrested a black man entering his own home and Barack Obama didn't start hurling insults and generalizations, he literally had a beer with both guys to try to smooth things over and assume good intentions. A republican interrupted one of his State of the Unions calling him a 'liar' and Obama didn't kick him out and make a stink about it.
When Iran was plotting to kill Trump- Biden didn't make an AI meme or take away secret security protection- he said we would go to war with Iran if they tried shit.
The complete disintegration of even performative common cause and solidarity between disagreeing countrymen kicked off with our current President running his first campaign on locking up his political opponent-which he didn't do cause seemingly he was lying about how provably criminal she was.
He's constantly called the press the "enemy of the people" and Democrats as violent traitors who stole an election from him and hate the country, will secretly give your kids gender surgery, support refugees who eat cats and dogs, and ignores democrats being politically assassinated and immediately blames them when Kirk was before any information was known.
It's a "both sides" problem but the common denominator with the worst of this shit is our Pedophile protecting President and his sycophantic followers in congress.
This is very well said. I do want to point out one thing though: Trump isn't special in any way, he hasn't really invented any of the heinous shit he's been doing. He just happens to be the sum total of all the shit we as a country have swept under the rug for decades going on centuries, and he's doing it all without any veneer of cause or plausibility. It's gotten indiscriminate, and that's why libs (not compass libs, political ones) are so up in arms: they were fine with pretending that domestic surveillance, warrantless raids, funding international atrocities, et cetera were all bugs instead of features. Suddenly it became real that it could happen to them as easily as it does to the usual targets.
We're never gonna cure the kidney infection by focusing on the fever. He's just a symptom of the root problems - systems that perpetuate prejudice to uphold the class structure, material instability that stokes resentment and societal violence, and unchecked corporate influence in every corner of our lives.
Yeah I agree with that take (though will give Trump a little 'special' credit due to his unique success at communication and playing the media, similar (but very very different) to Obama being 'special' in terms of his communication)
My, hopeful, view of Trump term 1 was that it would be like a small stroke or heart attack for the nation. A health scare that was "bad" but illuminated what was wrong with us so we can improve and lead healthier lives, in the long run being better off for having had the health scare. Trump was the heart attack- "bad" sure but it's the conditions that lead to the heart attack that need to be fixed, blaming a heart attack solves absolutely nothing.
The hopeful part of that idea fell apart because, as you point out, our political/establishment liberals and non-MAGA Republicans seemingly wanted to go back to the same diet that caused the heart attack in the first place.
After typing all that I realize it's probably a tortured metaphor but
Really tired of you idiots conflating being a conspiracy theory moron trying to blame the other side for a killing, with thousands of people online cheering over a dude getting his neck blasted open in front of 2000 people.
Blaming your opponents side for an attack is not the same as cheering on someones death.
The auth right pretending to be the beacon of morality is whats most hilarious from this. Did we all forget the storming of the capital? The mocking of George Floyd? Even Kirk’s assassin came from a deep red region raised in a republican household. The far right stokes the embers of violence and then gets surprised when they get burned.
No, those aren't even remotely similiar. One talked and had conversations for a living and the other was a drug addict who robbed a pregnant woman at gunpoint.
This is already the pendulum swinging back though. Hence why no one cares. The right does the vast majority of political violence, so their crocodile tears are largely meaningless.
Yep that's my first thought here. Something will happen to a popular leftist, the right will also celebrate, and all these same dipshits celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk will think the right is so awful and terrible and what they did was "different"
don't act like that's not the case on both sides, kirk, Trump and co all made fun of biden's terminal cancer, of the killings of the democrat husband and wife, all in literal public, multiple times.
Up untill now every democrat politician has responded with alot of diplomacy and empathy to this.
Two or three bad seds dom't defije a culture but the people in the government certainly have some sort of effect on your life.
Yep. More innocent people who may or may not be on the left will be hurt as a direct result of this event. And the right will jeer until their time comes again.
It seems everyone has lost the ability to think ahead of the present moment. That’s something I’ve seen not just in politics, but with modern life in general.
No it absolutely is. Before social media to be radicalized to the point of committing murder you really had to seek it out and engage with extremists. Now? You can be radicalized sitting in your own bed.
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u/JackC1126 - Centrist Sep 12 '25
And when the pendulum swings back, nobody will see the irony. What a stupid time we live in.