# How long would Charlie Kirk have lasted here? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 14, 2025, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044 "2025-09-14T21:59:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/41 "2025-09-15T15:43:24Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Yes but engaging in that debate would not have made him leave. He’d be looking to engage with someone on SD with extremely progressive (in his words “woke”) views. So you’re saying he would find someone on the left with the least sound debating style (like he did with college students) and then start an argument with them on the assumption that he could show them up (like he did with college students)? Why would defeating that person in a “debate” make him leave? And what would stop others from picking apart his usual spurious debating tactics? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/42 "2025-09-15T15:51:17Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > So you’re saying he would find someone on the left with the least sound debating style (like he did with college students) and then start an argument with them on the assumption that he could show them up (like he did with college students)? Why would defeating that person in a “debate” make him leave? Because that’s not what I said. What I said was when he catches someone out on the left in an error then they ghost him, then he would leave. For example Tom Scott is only Governor of Vermont because it is a red state. Really, what party holds all of the state-wide offices besides Governor \*crickets" Even though he may have won that debate, he need you to acknowledge he won. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/43 "2025-09-15T15:53:47Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Kirk wouldn’t have adhered to the rules of all-Lefty, all-the-time that this board demands of its users so he would be banned pretty swiftly–whether he deserved it or not. There is no longer any room for arguing against Leftist politics here. Tis a shame. Really? Because I started a thread arguing against positions I saw as too far to the left just this month and while it was heated nobody was banned and nobody quit the board. I think the real issue is that a lot of right wingers are pretty fragile. They need to live in a bubble where nobody is allowed to effectively argue with them. Charlie Kirk wouldn’t have lasted here because he couldn’t have stood up to people disagreeing with him and calling him on his bullshit in an environment where he didn’t control the cameras and microphones. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/44 "2025-09-15T15:56:41Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > For example > Tom Scott is only Governor of Vermont because it is a red state. Is that an argument someone made to him, or to you? I’m not familiar with the context. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/45 "2025-09-15T16:10:55Z")
I simplified but yes that is an argument that happened here, not to Charlie Kirk. Note: I screwed up, I meant Phil Scott, not Tom Scott the content creator. I’m _always_ doing that. I used it as an example because I know of it and to show that yes, at least one member here participates in that type of debate. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/46 "2025-09-15T16:17:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Really? Because I started a thread arguing against positions I saw as too far to the left just this month and while it was heated nobody was banned and nobody quit the board. It is true that the board is somewhat tolerant of right-wing positions. I still contend that the Board as a whole (maybe not the mods) has different standards for debate whether you are on the left or right, but no mod is going to close the thread out-of-hand or warn me if I start a thread “Trump is right to take away birthright citizenship”. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Charlie Kirk wouldn’t have lasted here because he couldn’t have stood up to people disagreeing with him and calling him on his bullshit in an environment where he didn’t control the cameras and microphones. I disagree. If it were an actual debate here that showed him up, he would just attack someone else, like culling the weak ones out of the herd. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/47 "2025-09-15T16:20:20Z")
Charlie Kirk’s [Brandolini’s Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandolini%27s_law) argumentation methods would have left him high and dry on this forum. But he’d have never been here because there’s no point in playing to the cameras when none are rolling. My original vote was that he’d be banned, because I figured that he couldn’t help himself on the subject of LGBT people. But he might have settled down to become the most-pitted board member in SDMB history, so it depends on his mindset - but that mindset would have never caused him to come here or to stay had he found it. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/48 "2025-09-15T16:24:51Z")
Here’s a question. Suppose he were constantly Pitted and otherwise attacked. Would MAGAs here defend him? Because if not, yeah he would bail quite quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/49 "2025-09-15T16:53:37Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > If it were an actual debate here that showed him up, he would just attack someone else, like culling the weak ones out of the herd. That only works as a winning tactic when you control the debate. Look at the example given earlier in the thread: > About 20 minutes in, a young audience member stepped up to the microphone to try to do just that. > > “Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” he asked. > > “Too many,” Kirk quipped. The crowd clapped and cheered. Kirk was “debating” in a safe space. He filled the room with people who agreed with him and only let in a handful of opponents. The exchange cut off right after Kirk made his quip and the other guy didn’t have a chance to respond. None of that would have worked in a real debate space like this board. If Kirk had been posting nonsense about transgendered people committing crime, somebody else would have posted _"Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?”_ If Kirk had tried to respond by posting _“Too many”_ the thread wouldn’t have conveniently been closed right then so he got the last word. Instead Kirk would have faced people posting to tell him to answer the question he was asked. And other people posting to ask him if he knew the answer to the question he was asked. And other people posting with the answer which wouldn’t have supported Kirk’s position. And other people posting about how Kirk’s position wasn’t supported by the facts. And other people pointing out that Kirk apparently hadn’t even known the facts. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/50 "2025-09-15T17:06:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That only works as a winning tactic when you control the debate. > > Look at the example given earlier in the thread: Look at my reasoning just above your post. I concede that if he doesn’t have an echo chamber here to play to, he would leave. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/51 "2025-09-15T18:06:15Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > About 20 minutes in, a young audience member stepped up to the microphone to try to do just that. > > > > “Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” he asked. > > > > “Too many,” Kirk quipped. The crowd clapped and cheered. > > Kirk was “debating” in a safe space. He filled the room with people who agreed with him and only let in a handful of opponents. The exchange cut off right after Kirk made his quip and the other guy didn’t have a chance to respond. Huh? The other guy did get a chance to respond: > [@](#): > > Five, the audience member claimed. “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?” the man continued. > > Kirk leaned forward and picked up his mic before setting back into an upright position. “Counting or not counting gang violence?” he said. The exchange was cut off at that point by Kirk’s murder. And it’s obvious why CK brought up gang violence: he expected the audience member to be debating in bad faith; giving the number of trans spree shooters, but using the much larger count of mass shootings that are dominated by gang violence as the denominator to suggest the number is negligible. The media regularly equivocates between the two. As for the OP, I think he’d have no interest in posting here, but the fact he was able to remain calm in debates suggest he would be able to stick to the rules if he wanted to, so I voted for ‘multiple Pit threads’. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/52 "2025-09-15T18:08:20Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Would MAGAs here defend him? Who?? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/53 "2025-09-15T18:10:15Z")
Given the massive following Kirk had, there’s a chance that he would have tried to get a large number of his followers to join him in coming to the Dope, maybe to brigade the message board. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/54 "2025-09-15T18:15:14Z")
Agreed. I am one of the more centrist-conservative posters here and while some mods do tend to ref things a bit differently based off of political views, they generally give threads a fair trial run unless there is obviously socking/trocking. The only time I ever got banned from a thread was for being too outspokenly pro-Ukraine, which is hardly a right-wing view. If Kirk were to come here with his threads about how slavery had benefits for black people or women should submit to husbands or whatnot, they’d probably inevitably be moved to the Pit sooner or later, but he wouldn’t get banned right away. In fact, some of the things Kirk said - such as how gun deaths are unavoidable and just an acceptable cost of the Second Amendment - don’t sound all that different from what some Dopers argue here. Kirk could even go un-warned here on the Dope if he packaged all his views the right way. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/55 "2025-09-15T18:30:20Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Agreed. I am one of the more centrist-conservative posters here and while some mods do tend to ref things a bit differently based off of political views, they generally give threads a fair trial run unless there is obviously socking/trocking. Yeah, I agree with this. However, the majority of posters on the board would be extremely hostile towards him and his views. Doesn’t he usually have a big supportive audience at his college events cheering him on? It would have been quite a shock to come here and find the boot on the other foot. Has he ever debated in front of a hostile audience? ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/56 "2025-09-15T18:35:04Z")
I haven’t watched the video as I’m not a fan of CK-style clickbait, but I’d be surprised if there were many friendly audience members at Cambridge university. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/57 "2025-09-15T20:59:03Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I disagree. If it were an actual debate here that showed him up, he would just attack someone else, like culling the weak ones out of the herd. I tend to agree with others that Kirk wouldn’t last long in an environment where it’s possible to “instant-replay” the interaction, and not manipulate the list via blocking or muting as it’s possible to do on Twitter, or at an event where you have your own private security to hustle away the more inconvenient participants. His whole schtick relied on manipulating the video record and social media record to make him appear victorious and dominant. The SDMB format isn’t conducive to that schtick, so it wouldn’t be very appealing for him to remain. If he did remain, he’d need a new routine. He’d be rules-lawyering, he’d be working the mods to death, he’d be milking the “do not call people liars” rule for all it’s worth. I think he’d have been able to make a go of it, but he’d have lost interest fairly soon. He was after red-meat content (juicy clips of him owning a melting-down lib), but SDMB would only yield snow-crab claws (a few very tasty morsels, but not nearly enough to justify the effort). ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/58 "2025-09-15T21:11:19Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > The SDMB format isn’t conducive to that schtick, so it wouldn’t be very appealing for him to remain. I think it can be. If I make a misogynistic statement and 4 posters counter me with good arguments and 1 has some dumb-ass response, I can make it into a dialogue between me and that poster, ignore the others and thus “win”. And I believe that is not moddable. That’s why I used the concept of culling the herd. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/59 "2025-09-15T21:17:09Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I think it can be. If I make a misogynistic statement and 4 posters counter me with good arguments and 1 has some dumb-ass response, I can make it into a dialogue between me and that poster, ignore the others and thus “win”. And I believe that is not moddable. That’s why I used the concept of culling the herd. What I was referring to was more the fact that Kirk couldn’t really modify the record to conceal “good” responses he was ignoring, or edit out inconvenient things that he said, or block/mute the more challenging accounts from interacting with him. What you’re referring to is what I think we call “nut-picking”. If you want to look victorious, you always want to eat up time by targeting the bumblers, not the sharp debaters. It’s a favorite tactic of any number of political commentators (Charlie Kirk and Ben Shapiro come to mind, but lots of people do it). It’s not really moddable here because it’s not really feasible to force someone to respond to “good” arguments to focus on the easy targets (though posters will certainly call it out on occasion). So Kirk definitely would’ve done what you’re describing. I’m just not sure if it would’ve been adequate to keep him interested. Nut-picking is less effective here, because threads will run for weeks, months, even years. People have time to let you exhaust yourself with the nuts before going in for the kill. Also I’m not sure he’d have enjoyed a medium where so many of his other tools are ineffective. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044/60 "2025-09-16T00:20:57Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If Kirk had been posting nonsense about transgendered people committing crime, somebody else would have posted _"Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?”_ > > If Kirk had tried to respond by posting _“Too many”_ the thread wouldn’t have conveniently been closed right then so he got the last word. Instead Kirk would have faced people posting to tell him to answer the question he was asked. And other people posting to ask him if he knew the answer to the question he was asked. And other people posting with the answer which wouldn’t have supported Kirk’s position. And other people posting about how Kirk’s position wasn’t supported by the facts. And other people pointing out that Kirk apparently hadn’t even known the facts. See? See how the LEFT [spit] gangs up on an honest conservative debater? See the oppression and censorship by the WOKE? [spit spit] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-charlie-kirk-have-lasted-here/1023044.md?page=4)