The assassination of Charlie Kirk threatens to embolden the far right and provide Donald Trump with a pretext for crushing dissent. Escalating political violence corrodes democratic norms and poses a unique threat to the Left.
It’s not about riding it out, dealing with it is a separate discussion. The point is that they are (quite successfully) manufacturing consent for that fascism. The easiest way for them to do that is to twist an actual event to show that only they can stop this sort of terrible thing happening, and their opponents must be crushed.
As I said, shooting some “celebrity”, while cathartic, will not achieve anything positive (because kirk wasn’t essential to any processes), but will make it easier to manufacture consent for suppressing those opposed to the regieme.
To be clear, even if trump shot kirk in front of everyone, they’d claim it was a leftist, but it would be less convincing to many than if it actually turns out to be soneone even slightly left leaning.
In summary, this event will only have negative consequences for those who aren’t fascists, and given that, you’d hope it wasn’t an anti-fascist who did it.
Explain to me what the last few decades of “well, I disagree with what you’re saying but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it” has accomplished? It sure hasn’t thrown cold water on the rightward turn.
Every time one of these sadistic hatemongers has said things like “kill all leftists” they just tip toe to the line of actual violence, and our silence is sanction.
Their actions haven’t had consequences since the civil war.
All of which is true, but none of which increases the chances of this sort of act having a positive outcome.
Of course their words and actions should have had consequences, but those consequences should have been, and should be, systemic, not random, sporadic acts of violence that just give them an way to convince more people that their way is the right way. Inciting violence should have meant facing charges of doing so. Inciting insurection should have meant spending the rest of your life behind bars, or worse. I also realize that the entire system has rotted from the inside out, those systemic consequences haven’t come, and lashing out feels cathartic.
Acting withour a plan isn’t going to help right now. There needs to be some level of planning and action that focuses on turning those people who can be away from fascism and populism. Much, perhaps most, of their support is not hardcore as such, and just because that’s the team they’ve always supported. It takes effort and support to break through that, but it’s possible. There is much disquite amongst those who’ve supported trump and the republicans so far, exploiting that would seem to be a more productive approach, rather than driving them further into the fold.
It’s not about riding it out, dealing with it is a separate discussion. The point is that they are (quite successfully) manufacturing consent for that fascism. The easiest way for them to do that is to twist an actual event to show that only they can stop this sort of terrible thing happening, and their opponents must be crushed.
As I said, shooting some “celebrity”, while cathartic, will not achieve anything positive (because kirk wasn’t essential to any processes), but will make it easier to manufacture consent for suppressing those opposed to the regieme.
To be clear, even if trump shot kirk in front of everyone, they’d claim it was a leftist, but it would be less convincing to many than if it actually turns out to be soneone even slightly left leaning.
In summary, this event will only have negative consequences for those who aren’t fascists, and given that, you’d hope it wasn’t an anti-fascist who did it.
Explain to me what the last few decades of “well, I disagree with what you’re saying but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it” has accomplished? It sure hasn’t thrown cold water on the rightward turn.
Every time one of these sadistic hatemongers has said things like “kill all leftists” they just tip toe to the line of actual violence, and our silence is sanction.
Their actions haven’t had consequences since the civil war.
All of which is true, but none of which increases the chances of this sort of act having a positive outcome.
Of course their words and actions should have had consequences, but those consequences should have been, and should be, systemic, not random, sporadic acts of violence that just give them an way to convince more people that their way is the right way. Inciting violence should have meant facing charges of doing so. Inciting insurection should have meant spending the rest of your life behind bars, or worse. I also realize that the entire system has rotted from the inside out, those systemic consequences haven’t come, and lashing out feels cathartic.
Acting withour a plan isn’t going to help right now. There needs to be some level of planning and action that focuses on turning those people who can be away from fascism and populism. Much, perhaps most, of their support is not hardcore as such, and just because that’s the team they’ve always supported. It takes effort and support to break through that, but it’s possible. There is much disquite amongst those who’ve supported trump and the republicans so far, exploiting that would seem to be a more productive approach, rather than driving them further into the fold.