And so, the schriftleitergesetz begins.
NPR has compiled a list from news reports of 33 people who have lost their jobs or are under investigations over their posts as of Friday. Most were public school teachers, with at least 21 educators in school districts across the country fired, put on administrative leave or placed under investigation by their employers. … Among the earliest and most prominent firings was MSNBC analyst Matthew Dowd…Dowd went on to say Kirk was “constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech aimed at certain groups. And I always go back to, hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.”
These aren’t people celebrating or promoting his death, they’re pointing out this was someone killed for not being far enough right in an environment they help ratchet up to political violence.
Some of Kirk’s rhetoric was incendiary. He questioned the intellectual capabilities of women and black people, said that some gun deaths were worth it to have the Second Amendment, asserted the 1964 Civil Rights Act was a mistake, and cast immigrants and transgender people as threats.
Dowd was also making jokes about it, saying that maybe it was just one of Charlie Kirk’s fan firing off his own gun in celebration. Lots of people in the media have been pointing out that Charlie Kirk was a massive piece of shit who specifically was unsympathetic about other people getting shot, that is probably still fine (for now I guess).
And yes, the right has been “joking” about left wing people getting murdered for years. That doesn’t mean that adopting their psychopathic traits in turn is the right way to move things forward.
But again, most people facing the dangers are regular people.
NPR has compiled a list from news reports of 33 people who have lost their jobs or are under investigations over their posts as of Friday. Most were public school teachers, with at least 21 educators in school districts across the country fired, put on administrative leave or placed under investigation by their employers.
His joke was also made at a time when literally nothing was known about the shooter and really wasn’t all that offensive or psychopathic.
In his appearance on MSNBC, Dowd first noted that no details were known at that time, then speculated whether it was a supporter who fired the gun in “celebration.”
Dowd later apologized and clarified his comments. He wrote in a newsletter Friday that at the time he was speaking, he had not known that Kirk had been the target of the shooting or that he had been shot.
Making a joke that someone fired some celebratory shots when he didn’t know Kirk had been hit and targeted is… are we really offended by this?
when he didn’t know Kirk had been hit and targeted
Oh, that’s wild. I didn’t know that part of it. That’s… I mean, that changes things. It’s also a little weird though. How would he have heard that there were gunshots at the Charlie Kirk event but not heard that they hit Charlie Kirk? That doesn’t make any sense to me.
Information doesn’t flow through a system at an equal, steady rate. 🤷🏻♂️
“I better let this newscaster know that someone shot a gun at the Charlie Kirk rally, that’s important and he’s about to talk about it on TV. No need to let him know that Charlie Kirk got shot in the neck when it happened though. That part can come later.”
You know people talk about things before all the information rolls in, right?
Like… its possible he talked about it before anyone knew Kirk was hit.
Before anyone knew? That is definitely not true.
Here’s the video:
https://x.com/TheDeskDotNet/status/1965939360592965736
I kind of wish there was more of the lead-up to it, but that’s easily enough context to see that they knew he’d been shot. I do sort of get the point he was trying to get at, but the way he said it was clearly a horrifying joke, you can sort of see the anchor’s shock as she’s saying right after that it is confirmed that Kirk was shot (i.e. there is no uncertainty, just in case anyone wasn’t clear). The chyron says he was shot. Dowd immediately transitions to talking about “hateful deeds” right after.
there’s a joke there, but I’m not going to stick my neck out for it
It was worth a shot.
What a pain in the neck.
Might as well make a site called “Expose School Shooters” and put the info of Republicans on it.
