Before I write anything else today, I want to offer my condolences to the family of Charlie Kirk.
I never sought out his content, but thanks to algorithmic manipulation, advanced data harvesting and other digital poisons in the social media swamp, I – just like you – have been exposed to the guy’s head, voice and incredibly stupid ideas and methods on social media for the last 10 years or so.
I guess that’s why I – while still in shock over his assassination – rolled my eyes and sent off a tweet when I saw that Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt was following the leader and ordering all flags to be lowered to half-staff in Kirk’s honor:
Although a debate or riff on that thought may make for a good segment on a dark web podcast, I quickly learned it doesn’t land too well on X – a place where words quickly lose all context and meaning due to the disconnected emotional states of the senders and receivers.
I guess I didn't realize that Charlie Kirk actually has legions of fans, admirers and bot accounts who – while still processing and mourning his loss – didn’t appreciate my sardonic tweet. And honestly, I can’t blame them. If some political commentator I liked was assassinated while debating culture war issues with random college kids, I’d be sad, angry and very sensitive about it, too!
As I mentioned in my addendum to the tweet, isn’t the right supposed to be the empathy-is-bad, “Facts don’t care about your feelings,” anti-snowflake crowd? If so, why are they melting down over this? You’d think they’d be more tolerant of views from people who live in one of the other social media realities
Hehe. Just kidding.
Anyway, while I did my thing pissing off people on social media – something that’s not as fun as it used to be – Oklahoma politicians stuck with their scripts when issuing their statements and reactions.
For example, the establishment Evangelical wing of the party acknowledged his death with reserved, stoic class and dignity:
I’m not a fan of most of their ideas, principles and priorities, but it’s nice to see some people in the GOP can still take the high road instead of running on TV and lobbing huge grenades of bullshit politicizing the death, and placing the blame directly on “far crazy left views.”
That’s, naturally, what Markturd Mullin did:
Hey, I’m not a plumber who obviously never wore a hard hat, but aren’t we supposed to be mourning Charlie’s loss, and not run around stoking fears and – without any evidence – blaming “the left?” The assassin could be Nancy Pelosi for all I know, it’s way too early – and ignorant – to blame an entire political movement.
To Markwayne’s credit, he later clarified he wasn’t talking about Democrats, just the crazy, crazy extreme left he always conflates with Democrats.
While Markwayne Mullin was doing his thing, Mayor David Holt – a Republican – did his, and conveniently tried to sidestep the topic and pretend it didn’t exist by RTing this tweet by GOP message man Frank Luntz:
Oddly enough, the only Oklahoma politician to go off script was Ryan Walters. Hours after Kirk passed, he shared this X:
What the F is that? Is Ryan Walters being kind, polite and not demonizing the left? What the hell is happening? Did the demented ventriloquist controlling Ryan’s mind and body like he’s John Malkovich briefly drop out of the sky next to the Turner Turnpike?
If so, it looks like they’ve already reassumed control of Ryan’s body, because he is now demonizing public school teachers for expressing their insensitive and unfiltered views on the situation:
Well, it’s nice to see Ryan’s back at it, working with the formerly gay lawmaker who’s boycotting Braum’s to track down teachers who don’t share opinions he likes. Charlie Kirk sure would be proud!
Anyway, once again, my thoughts go out to Charlie Kirk’s wife and family. I didn’t agree with his words, hated his methods and questioned his intentions, but his kids shouldn’t have to grow up without a dad. The person, group – or foreign state posing as a person or group – behind this assassination should be tracked down and punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
