For over ten years I've wondered why, why, why don't moderate Republicans constrain their extremists, who've gone so far off the deep end? Why don't they say something? Do something?
And now with virtually everyone I know applauding political assassination, I'm saying and doing in the mirror universe. While I knew to expect rage and contempt, this time I feel like I'm on dangerous ground. Like maybe I should keep my voice down. Even from all the way here in Portugal. Something broke this week.
Moderate Republicans haven't spoken out all this time because they don't like being told to go fuck themselves, and they eschew personal endangerment. Easier to go along. Same for my temporarily insane friends who've suddenly decided a reasonable penalty for unsavory beliefs is violent death (I saw this coming in 2016).
For a long time, it was a lopsided assymetry, mostly because the Right was in power, and they had a personality cult to rally around. But the Left's applause of political violence this week has been like focusing a set of binoculars. Both lenses are now sharp and clear. The omens, it seems, are being fulfilled.
Friday, September 12, 2025
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2 comments:
I don’t know what your personal sources are but I’m here in the US and consume what I think is a lot of news media and follow X, Threads, and Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. While I have seen some evidence of people condoning the Kirk assassination, I have to say that my overall impression is of a great deal of restraint. Certainly outlets like CNN, MSNBC and the national networks seemed to stand on their heads to not take sides in any way.
At a local level, I have seen more emotion than at the national level. Mostly, though, in strong support of Kirk. But, then, I’m in Orange County, CA.
Personally, I wasn’t very familiar with Kirk’s positions but, if I believe what I’m reading now, I find it hard too be as moderate about him as most of what I’m seeing. But my personal beliefs aren’t the issue here.
Thanks for the comment.
That indeed is the meta-sentiment that's being largely reported and agreed upon by center left media (the right has receded so far that, like it or not, circa neutral media now—anyone who considers stuff like QANON to be bullshit—is center left): "Only extreme progressives are celebrating."
I have an unusually wide circle of friends, and at this point I have each of them pretty well calibrated in terms of their extreme-ness. And while it's true most aren't dancing in the streets, the vast, vast majority are "Sorry for the violence but he asked for it". And, for the first time, people broadcasting my message are receiving en masse hostility and threats that's orders of magnitude more ominous than previous conciliatory messaging. That's the consensus of my centrist friends.
Moderatess are posting mildly titillating memes about how AWFUL Charlie Kirk was, and pretending that represents coded restraint (it doesn't), while less moderate types are posting more savage memes, and progressives are indeed straight up relishing despite a smirky brief disclaimer.....which TV types and "thought leaders" nod at appreciatively and figure it's going just fine.
You may, even subconsciously, be influenced by those "thought leaders" who insist that what's happening isn't happening. It reminds me very much of how "thought leaders" on the right have been gaslighting the left about what the right extreme's been doing all these years. It's just extreme agitators. It's going just fine.
I'm not someone who is easily convinced of things. I rile up about as easily as an earthworm. One nice thing about being 62 is that I know who I am and I know where I make my mistakes, and my bellwethering record has been extremely good. But really what matters isn't what you or I think, it's what the right thinks. And they, alas, agree solidly with me, and are very, very agitated. And we (despite what you see on the news) continue to fuel it.
This isn't good. And if what my messaging doesn't jibe with your world view, well, that's why I'm screaming it. There are moments when you need to scream at people with a complacent worldview to snap them back to reality. Not that I expect it to work, but I'm compelled to try.
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