Ask Lemmy

If you want a variety of opinions and potentially unpopular opinions, I can throw mine in:

I don't care. This is a USA local issue. The internet and the world do not cater to only America. I Ignore and block American news. I hate that this is plastered across Lemmy. I don't want to add "Kirk" to my Lemmy keyword blacklist because I don't want to miss the Star Trek memes. I wish he had a more unique name. I wish Lemmy had more ways to block politics.

It's not the end of times. The world has always been on the brink of collapse, we're not unique for thinking we're the most special people to live in the worst times ever. There are a thousand assholes ready to replace Kirk. Life goes on. The world keeps turning. Just stop making this shit pollute my memes feed.

I think the fact that there is a divide at all about murder is pretty informative. Generally speaking, that isn't a sign of a healthy society. It speaks to how frustrated many people are with society these days. I do believe that social media makes this occurrence drastically different than any other potential societal collapse. So any predictions are worth the cost you pay for them.

Im glad theres one less of them. Those who believe peaceful protesting works will disagree.

Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om7O0MFkmpw

😁

I feel the same way about Charlie and his family as he did about school kids and their families. Like he said, these deaths are acceptable for.... some reason.

Say what you will, but he died doing what he loved. Spewing shit out of his neck about school shootings.

Not surprised. Kinda hard to believe there haven’t been more public attempts on official’s lives. What was the most shocking was the rapid and wide-spread spool-up of hatred online against liberals/democrats without them ever knowing the shooter’s identity or affiliation. They didn’t care. Aided by Chinese and Russian troll farms, of course.

Society? The American Experiment is over. I fully expect Republicans to remain in power indefinitely, forcefully, through falsehood, or simply just throwing the rules out the window. The only thing that remains after that will be if there is a purge and how deep it goes. Will your social media post history critical of Trump get you fired? Disappeared? Jailed? Will the regime stop at open persecution of democratic officials or will they take it all the way down to the regular citizens?

Obviously everyone in the country should be scared and sad about where the country has headed in the last decade. MAGA is both a symptom but also an accelerant, and is the natural evolution of late stage capitalism. Until the real root issues are fixed, nothing will actually change it. Stochastic terrorism will get worse, the divide will get worse, the hollowing out of institutions will get worse. Until the common people can turn off Newsmax, Fox, and Tiktok long enough to have a single rational thought of their own, nothing will change for the better.

The elite are dividing the country through those media sources, so that they spend all their time chasing bullshit like LGBT or immigrants, when the real problem is corporate greed and the ultra-wealthy (influenced by Yarvin/Thiel aspirations) seeking to further dismantle society for their own personal gain.

Oddly enough, I cherish all life. I joke because the world is often dark, and humor helps me embrace and cope with the unchangeable nature of life and death.

I don’t believe the death penalty is the answer. I’m a strong advocate for reform. I believe everyone deserves a chance to change, mostly because I’ve changed myself, and I want those around me to bounce back from the worst and grow into fathers, mothers, or even symbols of hope for others who have stumbled.

There are people like Charlie Kirk who were angry at the world, consumed by hate. Killing someone like that is the quick path. But the slower and more meaningful path, the one with a greater chance of creating lasting good, is changing their perspective. That could undo not only their hate, but also the hate of those who listen to them. Instead, by destroying them, we often create more fear and more hate.

I know many will say some people will never change, that they are incapable of seeing from the perspective of those they hate. And maybe that’s true. I admit, I struggle to understand fascists, and you might too. But if this conflict is ever going to truly end, it will take understanding, not killing.

Maybe I’m wrong. I just think life, all life, is precious. Some people throw it away through drugs, hate, or wasted time. The addict who never recovers dies with their potential unrealized. The person who clings to hate dies with nothing but bitterness. The real tragedy isn’t just their death, it’s the life they were given and chose to waste.

What happened was unfortunate, no one got through to him in time. Or nothing worked. Just like a heroin addict found dead with a needle in their arm. His hate put a bullet in his neck.

I feel nothing about it. It doesn't make a difference to me.

It's big reminder of the dark times we live in. We've become insensitive to the school shootings, they have been weighing less and less on "societies collective mind" since Sandy Hook. They're covered for a day, and vanish from the mind.

This time it was a person most of us knew of and have formed an opinion about. Weather you liked him or not, there is an emotional connection there.

The stark difference in how people are reacting is chilling. Honestly, its difficult to accept a group cheering on his death to an extreme degree. Making a meme is whatever, but the videos and comments are filled such hate that it is unsettling to witness.

At the end of the day, he was a dude exercising his free speech. His words may be misguided, but he had his opinions and was willing to debate them with people.

Karma.

If you could care less, why don't you? Grammar stuff aside, as a European I feel pretty good about this. He got what he deserved.

I don’t support him being murdered whoever is doing the killing.

I think we should focus on the class war and not this right vs left bullshit.

Obviously the ideal amount of political violence should be zero. If any other option exists, I think those must be taken first.

But sometimes the status quo is violence, and letting the status quo continue doing violence will overtime do more harm than one act of political violence. So mathematically, there must be some point where some violence is worth the cost of less harm in the future.

I'm not a huge fan of anyone meeting this sort of end.

A little mixed feelings because on the other hand I have a bit of an appreciation of the context of a man that has openly consistently declared gun deaths as somewhat acceptable getting killed by a gun.

But ultimately, I would have rather seen him get his ass kicked or a few handgun bullets to the vest to give him some appropriate fear and consequences without him becoming a martyr. Ideally i would have liked him to just get scared into not actively trying to troll people the way he did. Further for it to be clear from the very first moment that it was MAGA infighting, to avoid the incident increasing an already strained division and maybe show the movement the dangerous game they are playing.

Release the Trumpstein files!

It's had me thinking a lot about the tolerance paradox. Where exactly is the line? How should it be handled? Will we get better without violence? Is violence necessary to fight back against dangerous ideas? Who should be the ones holding the line against dangerous ideas? What could we have done differently to ensure we didn't get here? Will we make any changes or learn anything from this? What duty do we have to protect the marginalized communities that this kind of speech affects?

I've certainly drawn some conclusions of my own pondering this, but I still have plenty of unanswered questions.

Fight fascists but don't shoot them in the face if you don't have to because it will literally backfire.

The reactions on all sides has been fucking insane, and it's only a point on a curve on the way too all-out war.

It doesn’t say anything about our society. Wack jobs assassinating celebrities has gone for as long as our society has existed.

Charlie Kirk and his ilk thrive on pissing people off, that bit him in the ass.

Am I ok either way someone being murdered, absolutely not.

Am I mourning Charlie Kirk? Nope.

I don't really know who he is. Who is (was) he?

We need a national online forum. That's my takeaway.