Charlie Kirk has never received a warm welcome in the pages of this magazine. It doesn’t matter now. The assassination of Kirk is a tragedy. Morally, it is unjustifiable. Politically, it is cause for serious alarm. A larger spiral into political violence would be a catastrophe for the Left.
In the short time since Kirk was slain, most on the Left have rightly condemned his murder. A not insignificant number, however, have reacted with an almost competitive lack of empathy. Not only is their anti-moral posturing likely to turn off ordinary Americans, who abhor political violence, but it is also politically misguided and strategically naive. There is nothing to celebrate here. Indeed, there is much to fear.
sit back and observe time
but fr:
If history is any guide, the Left faces serious dangers from this development. The theory that acts of individual political violence will somehow spark mass movements for justice (what used to be called “propaganda of the deed”) has been tested, in a variety of circumstances around the world, for centuries. It’s very consistently been a disaster, almost always leading to enhanced repression of the Left and attacks on democracy writ large. The aftermath of Kirk’s murder could easily follow this familiar, grim pattern. Whether or not the shooter even turns out to be left-wing, there are good reasons to worry that the assassination could be used as a pretext for new crackdowns against dissenting speech from an administration that’s already shown itself willing to engage in a degree of authoritarianism we haven’t seen in recent American history.
Kirk himself played a leading role in pushing Gen Z toward the Right, especially young men. If the killer hoped to snuff out his influence, their actions will almost certainly have the opposite effect. Kirk’s murder at age thirty-one will no doubt convince many of his millions of viewers and listeners to dedicate themselves to his cause, thus hastening the coherence of a militant right-wing political bloc that will be an obstacle to our own project for decades to come.
does jacobin have short guide for spain as related to political violence from anarchists?
However, I empathize with the (likely now legitimate) concern people like Hasan might have because of this. I'm not gonna say that Kirk was a good guy (he wasn't - absolutely vile), but he wasn't directly overseeing the social murder of people. It's a lower adventurism bar, and one that doesn't have the universal revilement that the Luigi shooting did. Plus, unlike the healthcare CEO, Kirk has plenty of fans who would likely be willing to do a counter-adventurism for him.
Basically, as
as this is, it's got the potential for blowback on the left in the form of someone taking a shot at Hasan, Zohran, AOC, Ilhan, etc. as "vengeance." I recognize electoralism and discourse are not ends in themselves (only means to a total socialist revolution and victory), but especially since AmeriKKKa's working class is so disorganized, we need everyone we to radicalize and pipeline people (AOC probably doesn't "fit" this, and Zohran TBD, but Hasan and Ilhan both do good work as signposts if nothing else). The real concern isn't some broad crackdown yet, it's more adventurism/counterviolence from the "lone wolf Right" against either 1. public figures on the left or 2. symbolic targets of the "left" (and here, I don't want to speculate but needless to say this is far more grim).
Hoping, as always, the shooter is just some right wing freakoid,
i will paraphrase jacobin here:
i mean it doesn't work that way, state does what it wants and the plebs suffer its whims. But also 1 day in, this shit could be memory holed in a week.
I think that's actually the issue: if the state (run by right-wingers) wants to turn Kirk into a martyr, they can. The left does not have that same capacity, being out of power (even if Dems were in power this would be the case). I just think that if this was a left shooter, they should have picked a better target. Kirk is, for a materialist, a terrible target. There's not even the potential for (as with Luigi) for a little harm reduction as healthcare companies maybe back off ghoulish policies in fear. There's no equivalent here -- very little upside, strategically, tactically, etc. What's "gained" by the movement here if this was a left shooter? I don't see any upside for the left at all (aside from one less ghoul alive, but if you're a shooter this good, pick a better target comrade...)
I think everyone has melted brains by social media, realistically. As related to getting the inheritance tax into state coffers, one has to imagine people simply lack motivation for complicated causality chains.
What is immaterial about killing a very successful propagandist, what's gained is "shithead no longer exists to spread his active brain poison"