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?
You are a better person simply through your intent. If every action you took was the same but your true, honest, personal intent was more moral and just, you are better
And now realize that every action you take is not the same
You aren’t even comparable. I’d say there are greater differences between you and him than you and completely different species
A just society must be intolerant towards those who are without any motivation but their own greed
I don't put stock in intent any more than I put stock in mere knowledge making someone good. Charlie's intentions were just as good as anyone else's and its not clear how greedy he was. Maybe he was greedy for his bosses?
If I actively did what Charlie was doing, but intended to not be evil... I would actually be good? This is why I don't bother believing I'm better than my enemies.
No. You are better. Doesn’t make you good, just makes you relatively better. If you were a delusional Charlie Kirk with legitimately good intentions, you’d still be a shitty fucking person, but you would be better than him, you’d just also be delusional.
But that also doesn’t happen. There are exceptions to everything in life; our general rhetoric and understanding of life shouldn’t have to account for those otherwise we’d be here all day. I don’t think it’s possible to have a Charlie Kirk I described, as I don’t think thoughts the opposite of your actions to that extent could be reconciled, but my comment included theoretical measurements