There's a lesson about the efficacy of violence here -- what it accomplishes and how. Not that I place any value on that vile hatemonger at all. No tears being shed. But I want to think through something and invite others to come with me. This is NOT a "conspiracy theory" post, but we have to tread through that zone to get where we're going.
People are saying already about the Kirk shooting that it is a false flag (AI overview: "a deceptive action intended to conceal the true perpetrator and misdirect blame toward another party, making it appear as if an opposing group or country is responsible for a harmful event"). This is the logic behind a lot of conspiracy theory -- that, for example, the US was responsible for 9/11, to give it an excuse to go to war; that forces on the right staged the Trump assassination attempt to rally support for him, make him seem heroic; that Hamas was secretly controlled by Netanyahu and that the October 7 attacks were designed to justify the "final solution" of the Palestinian problem (now ongoing; I mean, the Israeli reaction WAS kind of predictable, eh?). All of these are things I've heard said or implied in those cases, and now I'm hearing similar things about the Kirk shooting. It's a kind of "cui bono" argument ("whose benefit?"), by which the people who benefit from an action are probably the ones responsible for it. I've seen it said by a few friends now, implying that the right will now use the Kirk shooting to intensify their dismantling of rights in the US, to intensify their campaign, to make him a rallying point, a martyr (a word Trump and Turning Point USA wasted NO TIME in using -- Kirk's group have said, "Charlie has become America's greatest martyr to the freedom of speech he so adored").
Sure, that might just be opportunists making the most of things, but let's think through the implication: that shooting Kirk is not going to lead to the Project 2025 Republican hatemongers seeing the error of their ways. It's going to actually BENEFIT THE RIGHT. Regardless of who actually did it -- they seem to have him in custody now, turned in by his father, according to the news -- the MAGA folk are going to try to use it to advance their crackdown on transfolks, gays, immigrants, leftists.
If the people who stand to benefit from political violence are the people who are the target of it... which is fundamental to the idea behind any false flag operation... that seems to be a very good argument for NONVIOLENCE as a strategy. If by engaging in violence you're actually benefiting your opponents, giving them a pretext... why the hell would you want to do that? Unless you INTEND to bring wrath and destruction onto your side ("the war of the flea," etc -- I would hope what's happened in Gaza since Oct. 7 leads to that particular strategy being struck from the playbook forevermore). attacking an organized, powerful enemy that can respond with even worse violence is a BAD IDEA, unless your intention is to provoke that reaction. Moderates do NOT benefit from extremist action.
I do not know whether or not the Kirk shooting was a false flag... but it's scary that people can actually, at least somewhat rationally, claim that. They realize that things are about to get much worse in the United States as a result. Even if it wasn't a false flag, it might as well have been. The most extreme voices, the most vicious ideologues, will try to use Kirk's death as a rallying cry, to stir up even more hatred. Whoever the shooter is, whatever motivated him -- he might as well have been a pro-Trumper. Because that's the side that is going to benefit.
Shedding no tears for Charlie Kirk, but -- MEMO TO THE SHOOTER-- you're getting no thanks from me for this. Whatever you thought you were accomplishing, the reality is, you've made things so much worse for everyone in the US with this action. What comes next is YOUR FAULT. If you're actually a person of the left, you're an idiot. If you actually thought you were going to help with the mess that America is in, with this: you didn't. Watch what happens next. It's on your hands.
Sure, that might just be opportunists making the most of things, but let's think through the implication: that shooting Kirk is not going to lead to the Project 2025 Republican hatemongers seeing the error of their ways. It's going to actually BENEFIT THE RIGHT. Regardless of who actually did it -- they seem to have him in custody now, turned in by his father, according to the news -- the MAGA folk are going to try to use it to advance their crackdown on transfolks, gays, immigrants, leftists.
If the people who stand to benefit from political violence are the people who are the target of it... which is fundamental to the idea behind any false flag operation... that seems to be a very good argument for NONVIOLENCE as a strategy. If by engaging in violence you're actually benefiting your opponents, giving them a pretext... why the hell would you want to do that? Unless you INTEND to bring wrath and destruction onto your side ("the war of the flea," etc -- I would hope what's happened in Gaza since Oct. 7 leads to that particular strategy being struck from the playbook forevermore). attacking an organized, powerful enemy that can respond with even worse violence is a BAD IDEA, unless your intention is to provoke that reaction. Moderates do NOT benefit from extremist action.
I do not know whether or not the Kirk shooting was a false flag... but it's scary that people can actually, at least somewhat rationally, claim that. They realize that things are about to get much worse in the United States as a result. Even if it wasn't a false flag, it might as well have been. The most extreme voices, the most vicious ideologues, will try to use Kirk's death as a rallying cry, to stir up even more hatred. Whoever the shooter is, whatever motivated him -- he might as well have been a pro-Trumper. Because that's the side that is going to benefit.
Shedding no tears for Charlie Kirk, but -- MEMO TO THE SHOOTER-- you're getting no thanks from me for this. Whatever you thought you were accomplishing, the reality is, you've made things so much worse for everyone in the US with this action. What comes next is YOUR FAULT. If you're actually a person of the left, you're an idiot. If you actually thought you were going to help with the mess that America is in, with this: you didn't. Watch what happens next. It's on your hands.
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And sure enough, it's a kid from a pro-gun pro-Trump conservative family -- he was identified in the press about half an hour after I wrote this.
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