Here’s the frustration and why this should not be celebrated:

Charlie Kirk spent years dehumanizing people, making lives measurably worse, and profiting from hatred. The cosmic irony of him being shot while calling trans people dangerous and minimizing gun violence feels like the universe delivering a punchline he wrote himself. There’s a cathartic release in seeing someone who seemed untouchable suddenly silenced by the very violence he dismissed.

But that catharsis is blinding, vile, and destructive. Every celebration post, every "rest in piss" meme, every "fucked around and found out" joke is already being screenshot and weaponized. The worst people imaginable, those eager to exploit violence, are being handed exactly what they want: supposed proof that “they were right,” justification for crackdowns, and, most dangerously, a martyr whose blood sanctifies every awful thing he stood for.

Celebration may feel like a dunk on fascism, but in reality it accelerates it. It may feel like strength, but it exposes a movement so strategically bankrupt that it mistakes emotional satisfaction for political victory. Kirk alive was one influencer among many; Kirk dead is a rallying cry that will outlive us all.

The rage at what he represented is justified. But celebrating his death guarantees those very ideas will flourish. American democracy is dying, and a gravedigger falling into the hole is no victory when it only deepens the grave.

His ideas needed to be defeated. Instead, they’ve been immortalized.

As are you, right now.

If you can't tell the difference between someone who says "empathy is bad and no one should have it" and someone who says "I don't have empathy for this specific person due to their specific actions" then you should not be trying to argue nuance of definitions with anyone.

The problem with this is that it will be used to increase violence against non-white cis males.

I wonder if we will get a new wave of users as reddit has another ban wave for people laughing at this cunts neck exploding.

You already showed an arrogance and argumentativeness directed at a news source which is far more trustworthy than 99% of those that exist. I'm not arguing with yet another "perfect is the absolute enemy of good" types. You already told me what you believe about PBS and I'm not exerting further mental energy to try and change that. Be wrong, I don't care.

It appears you do not want to know more.

Ohhh! I love Starship Troopers! The book, not so much, but the movie I adore.

Let's dig into your choice to respond with this scene.

That's the moment where Verhoeven shows us 'Federation Victory'! The good guys have won! They've captured the Brain Bug! It's afraid! Humanity wins!

Except what's actually happening is fascists celebrating the torture of a sentient being. One that extracted human minds just as they'll now extract from its mind; each side justifying their horrors by pointing to the other's. All while convincing themselves they're heroes.

The Federation doesn't attempt communication or diplomacy. They literally probe its brain for intel while cheering its terror. The troops cheering 'It's afraid!' aren't the good guys. They're Verhoeven's mirror showing us how righteousness becomes the very tyranny it claims to fight.

NPH's character literally becomes a full SS-uniformed intelligence officer who feeds his best friends into an endless meat grinder. The bugs were defending their home. The Federation manufactured its own eternal enemy. And everyone cheering becomes complicit in forever war.

You've sent me a scene about people so drunk on their enemy's fear that they can't see they've become the monsters.

So either you're agreeing that celebrating suffering makes us indistinguishable from what we oppose, or you've accidentally proven my point by quoting the villains as heroes.

Either way, I couldn't have picked a better metaphor myself.

I get that people only have a limited energy to engage with people they don't know as our time is limited. Having said that I don't believe I am wrong, since you've not even attempted to engage with what I said, and have instead chosen insults. If you do decide to care in the future, I would be open to conversing.

Edit Response:
I don't hate PBS and I don't want to hurt your feelings or spread bad ideas. I simply have the media literacy to understand that PBS is politically biased towards a corporate US ideology that is not above spreading propaganda to mislead viewers. As I said before, I do think it is better run than most broadcast stations, but I am still critical of it's choices, since it is bad practice to blindly trust even 'good' new sources without being aware of their bias.

He had shitty opinions, we know. I won't follow them. I will have empathy and I will not celebrate his death. Still, I think the world's population improved with one less hateful person around.

I keep seeing this photo of Charlie Kirk and I keep thinking "There's no way that's Charlie Kirk".

Here’s the frustration and why this should not be celebrated:

Charlie Kirk spent years dehumanizing people, making lives measurably worse, and profiting from hatred. The cosmic irony of him being shot while calling trans people dangerous and minimizing gun violence feels like the universe delivering a punchline he wrote himself. There’s a cathartic release in seeing someone who seemed untouchable suddenly silenced by the very violence he dismissed.

But that catharsis is blinding, vile, and destructive. Every celebration post, every "rest in piss" meme, every "fucked around and found out" joke is already being screenshot and weaponized. The worst people imaginable, those eager to exploit violence, are being handed exactly what they want: supposed proof that “they were right,” justification for crackdowns, and, most dangerously, a martyr whose blood sanctifies every awful thing he stood for.

Celebration may feel like a dunk on fascism, but in reality it accelerates it. It may feel like strength, but it exposes a movement so strategically bankrupt that it mistakes emotional satisfaction for political victory. Kirk alive was one influencer among many; Kirk dead is a rallying cry that will outlive us all.

The rage at what he represented is justified. But celebrating his death guarantees those very ideas will flourish. American democracy is dying, and a gravedigger falling into the hole is no victory when it only deepens the grave.

His ideas needed to be defeated. Instead, they’ve been immortalized.

I take a little solace from the fact that win or not, he will not be here to see it through

It's unlikely that he has been buried yet. Inaccurate joke.

definitely inside job. The dude who failed to shoot Trump was around 160 yards away. Whoever shot Kirk was around 150 - 200 yards away and he only needed 1 shot. Definitely pro stuff, maybe a hit order from within the gov.

It was all set up. The person who asked the question, before the universe just throw a bullet at Charlie Kirk.

I'm guessing shooting at any other point would produce similar results.

Here’s the frustration and why this should not be celebrated:

Charlie Kirk spent years dehumanizing people, making lives measurably worse, and profiting from hatred. The cosmic irony of him being shot while calling trans people dangerous and minimizing gun violence feels like the universe delivering a punchline he wrote himself. There’s a cathartic release in seeing someone who seemed untouchable suddenly silenced by the very violence he dismissed.

But that catharsis is blinding, vile, and destructive. Every celebration post, every "rest in piss" meme, every "fucked around and found out" joke is already being screenshot and weaponized. The worst people imaginable, those eager to exploit violence, are being handed exactly what they want: supposed proof that “they were right,” justification for crackdowns, and, most dangerously, a martyr whose blood sanctifies every awful thing he stood for.

Celebration may feel like a dunk on fascism, but in reality it accelerates it. It may feel like strength, but it exposes a movement so strategically bankrupt that it mistakes emotional satisfaction for political victory. Kirk alive was one influencer among many; Kirk dead is a rallying cry that will outlive us all.

The rage at what he represented is justified. But celebrating his death guarantees those very ideas will flourish. American democracy is dying, and a gravedigger falling into the hole is no victory when it only deepens the grave.

His ideas needed to be defeated. Instead, they’ve been immortalized.