I didn’t follow Charlie Kirk and had never seen one of his videos, but I was sad to hear about his death today. Sad/prescient post of his from five months ago:
The statistics that Charlie Kirk puts forward above seem right. At least half of my Democrat friends in Massachusetts would kill prominent Republicans, such as Donald Trump, if they thought they could get away with it. They would be doing it not to indulge their rage at people who disagree with them, though they have a lot of rage, but to protect our democracy. Note that most of them would likely prefer less extreme measures, e.g., outlawing voting for candidates who aren’t approved by the Democrats, deporting all Republicans to Eswatini, or making it illegal for Republicans to run for office (a simple measure to protect our democracy from January 6 insurrectionists).
The text of Charlie Kirk’s April 7, 2025 tweet, in case it gets memory-holed:
Assassination culture is spreading on the left. Forty-eight percent of liberals say it would be at least somewhat justified to murder Elon Musk. Fifty-five percent said the same about Donald Trump.
In California, activists are naming ballot measures after Luigi Mangione.
The left is being whipped into a violent frenzy. Any setback, whether losing an election or losing a court case, justifies a maximally violent response.
This is the natural outgrowth of left-wing protest culture tolerating violence and mayhem for years on end. The cowardice of local prosecutors and school officials have turned the left into a ticking time bomb.
A lot of Charlie Kirk’s recent posts on X were about Iryna Zarutska, murdered by a prime example of the heritability of criminality. Decarlos Brown Jr. is the perpetrator (recorded on video, but that’s not enough for his name to appear on the Wikipedia page as a potential suspect). His brother Stacey Dejon Brown is a convicted murderer (2014 article about a 2012 crime). Their father, Decarlos Brown Sr. is also a convicted criminal (NY Post).
Related:
- Democrat thought-leader Rashida Tlaib, 2023: “Let’s not forget that Republicans are the Party of Insurrection” (i.e., it would be rational to kill Republicans in order to prevent our democracy from being subverted)
- A response to the shooting by someone with a lot of experience in this area, below.
Holy….
I was out doing landscaping when this happened.
Thought Philg was in error, Charlie tweeted only four hours ago.
He was literally talking about left-wing mass shooters when he was shot.
NSFW https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1965861803772268712
Yikes.
Philip Greenspun, I didn’t know where to begin with this post, so best to summarize up front: you are a depraved soul on so many levels. Your total lack of humanity and decency is always evident, but never more so than today.
You celebrate the arrest and verbally assassinate the entire family of a god-loving Black American whose family suffered generations of Slavery, Discrimination, Oppression and ongoing White Supremacy yet mourn the life of a beautiful, young white girl from a foreign land.
Equally as disturbing, you have the Moral Perversion to celebrate a person who actually lived the life of a White Supremacist and indoctrinated others to this Racist Ideology and others equally as despicable. Donald Trump, Charlie Kirk and all the others you worship are a cancer on our society, just as your “friends’ from Massachusetts have noted.
With so many people like you here in America, I now invariably lean toward Michelle’s view of America: she has “was never proud to be an American.”
Hi B.,
You said, and I quote:
“There’s a greater presumption of dangerousness that arises from the social and cultural perception that have been fed to folks for a long time. I think it is not as bad as it used to be, but it’s still there.”
Someone should have told Iryna Zarutska about cultural perception and to watch her 8. Damn, that was horrible to watch.
I wouldn’t get on the elevator with you either, and lock my doors when you walked by, not because you are black, but because you are a politician. Eww.
Say “Hi!” to Chell-Chell for me, and tell her many fine 3rd world countries would love to host her in a shanty town, as we watch the U.S. of A. turn into one, K? Bye.
P.S.
I’d like my prize back. And this shiznit isn’t even funny anymore, IMO. It’s a “peace” prize, yo. Peace, out.
How I found out:
At ~5:30 p.m., ~24-year-old, 5 ft. female coworker ecstatically shouted, “Charlie Kirk is dead! That’s great.” “I only wish this shooter went after someone more important.” “I wasn’t having a good day, but then…”
Was she 100% serious? Probably not. But it is a highly inappropriate reaction to someone’s death, especially in an office.
Her reaction is so real and understandable. Someone I would love to know.
Report her to HR? Nah, they would probably ding you. Maybe one-time for a 5150? Again, “probably not”, might boomerang back. BTW, is she single? I love a challenge. Have her DM me.
Seriously, though, holy crap. Sorry you have to deal with that B.S.
Did she have the same happy response when the Jews were attacked and murdered in Denver and DC? They are causing the genocide, along with supporters Kirk and Trump (Hitler), so deserve the same medicine, no? Go Team Left.
She is Jewish, views on Israel unknown. Has discussed experiences with Tinder dates. Female engineer in <5% female workplace.
Knowing that, I’m not as excited to know her. Likely just another Jew for genocide. My bad.
I was just looking at The NPR for their alleged fair and balanced reporting on Charlie Kirk, and saw that the school shooting continues at Evergreen High in Colorado. I’ve been there a few times, nice little mountain town. I can’t imagine it happening to my son or daughter or anybody. When is this madness going to end?
Rest in peace Charley Kirk. In his 31 years he managed to accomplish more than 99.999% of population can accomplish in their entire lifespan. I noticed him early and liked him. He was not 100% consistent but nobody is perfect. God takes the best of us early for himself.
Apropos of my earlier comments to Phil:
https://x.com/mazemoore/status/1965995784026857930?s=46&t=s86sYc0Q5E8NNR_0yMOi9g
Stay Angry!
I never heard of Charlie Kirk before today. Based on the little I’ve learned about him it seems he was exceptionally capable of achieving his goals.
I’ve not felt so far out of the loop in a long time. The NY Times headline describes him as a “Charismatic Right-Wing Activist”. Fox News seems to assume you already know who he is, but if you scroll far enough he’s described as an “eternal optimist”, “young conservative powerhouse”, and “transformative figure.” None of this explains why this guy was so well known, and evidently so well liked by some and so disliked by others. Is he prominent on social media?
Today reminded me of Chuck Klosterman’s 2017 Essay “Something Else”, on the subject of celebrity deaths in the social media era. Since this blog often shares excerpts for its readers, I’d like to do the same here:
On any given day, the only news I cannot escape is the avalanche of histrionic emotion concerning whatever famous (or semi-famous) person recently stopped living. When David Bowie died in January 2016, the level of communal online mourning was so massive (and so prolonged) that I wondered if we’d reached the apex of social media as a means for memorializing the passing of celebrities. “We can’t do this for everybody,” I thought to myself. “We will run out of poignant hyperboles.” But then Prince died in April, and the escalation advanced.
… From here on out, there’s never going to be a downturn in the number of high-profile corpses arguably worth remembering, particularly in a media landscape driven not by institutions but by any private citizen who cares enough to argue. Perversely and predictably, recognizing the death of a celebrity on Facebook has become a form of lifestyle branding: Expressing sadness over the passing of an obscure calypso musician is public proof that you care about obscure calypso music. Posting the posthumous photo of a forgotten sitcom star is proof that you were one of the few who did not forget, because that sitcom has now been integrated with your own formative experience. If everyone in your news feed is mourning the passing of Garry Shandling or Joe Garagiola or Leonard Cohen, you can absolutely throw your unvarnished emotions into the mix, even if you hadn’t really thought about the individual for twenty-five years. I mean, who could possibly question your motives? A man is dead.