# Rationally speaking, is the murder of Charlie Kirk worth worrying over more than the murders of kids in schools? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 11, 2025, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rationally-speaking-is-the-murder-of-charlie-kirk-worth-worrying-over-more-than-the-murders-of-kids-in-schools/1022949 "2025-09-11T14:44:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rationally-speaking-is-the-murder-of-charlie-kirk-worth-worrying-over-more-than-the-murders-of-kids-in-schools/1022949/121 "2025-09-19T00:44:21Z")
An article posted today that explicitly mentions retaliatory violence. Turns out 40% of Americans are cool with it. [https://www.npr.org/2025/09/18/nx-s1-5542231/kirk-shooting-violence-social-media](https://www.npr.org/2025/09/18/nx-s1-5542231/kirk-shooting-violence-social-media) ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rationally-speaking-is-the-murder-of-charlie-kirk-worth-worrying-over-more-than-the-murders-of-kids-in-schools/1022949/122 "2025-09-19T07:39:01Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > This was a problem then, but I never imagined it would grow to the extent that average people could watch a graphic video of someone getting shot and express happiness about it. Or openly cheer the death of a CEO. > > That’s a sign of a sick culture. I did find it rather troubling that so many peoples first instincts, in response to someone being brutally murdered, is to focus on the worst things the deceased ever said or did instead of on how horrible the murder was. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rationally-speaking-is-the-murder-of-charlie-kirk-worth-worrying-over-more-than-the-murders-of-kids-in-schools/1022949/123 "2025-09-19T08:16:31Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > I did find it rather troubling that so many peoples first instincts, in response to someone being brutally murdered, is to focus on the worst things the deceased ever said or did instead of on how horrible the murder was. That’s always been the standard. People only get upset about it when the deceased isn’t part of an ethnic, political or religious group that it’s socially acceptable to kill. Like someone black or poor or Muslim; we’d be seeing far less hand-wringing about how terrible it is that people are unsympathetic and a lot more speeches about “they were no angel” if it was someone in a category like that. Or just outright ignored. Instead of one our divinely ordained lords and masters, like a white male fascist or CEO. One of the masters being killed is unacceptable. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rationally-speaking-is-the-murder-of-charlie-kirk-worth-worrying-over-more-than-the-murders-of-kids-in-schools/1022949/124 "2025-09-19T13:00:50Z")
I had the same reaction after George Floyd was murdered. Trayvon Martin, too, for that matter. And I _really could_ go on… ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rationally-speaking-is-the-murder-of-charlie-kirk-worth-worrying-over-more-than-the-murders-of-kids-in-schools/1022949/125 "2025-09-19T14:45:06Z")
Yes. The Right Wing will simply declare the victims to be “thugs” that we shouldn’t be all that concerned about. George Floyd had a criminal history and a substance use problem, so why worry about him being brutally murdered by a cop in a city street in broad daylight while onlookers beg the cop to stop kneeling on his neck? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2025, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rationally-speaking-is-the-murder-of-charlie-kirk-worth-worrying-over-more-than-the-murders-of-kids-in-schools/1022949/126 "2025-09-23T21:29:00Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > I did find it rather troubling that so many peoples first instincts, in response to someone being brutally murdered, is to focus on the worst things the deceased ever said or did instead of on how horrible the murder was. I mean I didn’t even know who the hell the guy was, and he sounds like a terrible person, so for people saying, “he was a terrible person, though” I can’t muster much surprise. I’m not exactly weeping and gnashing my teeth. But there’s no way I could _watch_ something like that, and not be affected by it. Harkening back twenty years to that aggression research lab, one of the more controversial findings was that if you place an otherwise well-adjusted person in front of a gaming console or a TV and expose them to violent media, nothing happens. But if you take a person who is already in a violent environment, whether it’s abuse at home or exposure to gang violence or whatever else, then exposure to violent media makes that person more likely to commit an act of violence. I can’t help but conclude that this may be a factor now. While actual rates of violent crime have plummeted, in a sense it has never been more publicized, socially normalized, reinforced, and intentionally facilitated, as it has been now. You can go on Facebook or X and watch a video of an actual person dying a gruesome, violent death. It’s no longer a horror show only for the people who were gathered around him at that time, it’s a horror accessible by virtually everyone. And I think for some people, the people who ultimately commit these types of acts, the _presence_ of all this violence is just that extra bit of social reinforcement they need to kill. It’s a cycle that feeds itself. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rationally-speaking-is-the-murder-of-charlie-kirk-worth-worrying-over-more-than-the-murders-of-kids-in-schools/1022949/127 "2025-09-24T08:23:12Z")
I doubt that the issue is violence in the media; it’s that violence is being _actively encouraged_ by so many people on the Right from Trump on down. I’m reasonably sure that authority figures _telling_ people to go do violence has more of an effect than pictures of random violence. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rationally-speaking-is-the-murder-of-charlie-kirk-worth-worrying-over-more-than-the-murders-of-kids-in-schools/1022949/128 "2025-09-24T11:41:10Z")
Pardoning all of the January 6 insurrectionists signaled to the Right that their violence would be excused as long as it’s in service of their cause. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rationally-speaking-is-the-murder-of-charlie-kirk-worth-worrying-over-more-than-the-murders-of-kids-in-schools/1022949/129 "2025-09-24T13:43:45Z")
OP title has been my thoughts exactly. “My thoughts and prayers extend to the Kirk family.” ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2025, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rationally-speaking-is-the-murder-of-charlie-kirk-worth-worrying-over-more-than-the-murders-of-kids-in-schools/1022949/130 "2025-09-26T19:41:07Z")
School shootings are worse IMO. We require to go to school. It is supposed to be a safe space. Kirk knowingly chose a dangerous profession. He always had security with him. They just failed him. Ideally, his profession wouldn’t be dangerous but here we are. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rationally-speaking-is-the-murder-of-charlie-kirk-worth-worrying-over-more-than-the-murders-of-kids-in-schools/1022949/131 "2025-09-27T04:49:24Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Ideally, his profession wouldn’t be dangerous but here we are. His profession was “rabble rousing fascist demagogue”. It’s very arguable how dangerous it should be, and is inherently dangerous since making society more violent _is_ part of the point. People who throw around random firebombs risk getting burned. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rationally-speaking-is-the-murder-of-charlie-kirk-worth-worrying-over-more-than-the-murders-of-kids-in-schools/1022949/132 "2025-09-27T05:37:14Z")
I will say that active shooter training makes sense in a place like a DV shelter. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rationally-speaking-is-the-murder-of-charlie-kirk-worth-worrying-over-more-than-the-murders-of-kids-in-schools/1022949/133 "2025-09-27T22:06:28Z")
We have yet to have a shooting on premises but we were involved in a crisis line call in which someone was shot, and we periodically have abusers skulking around outside our premises. It’s very secure, and we’re just around the corner from the local police department, and they have cameras on everything, and they usually show up before we can call them about it, but yes. It’s the kind of place you want a clear protocol for that sort of thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rationally-speaking-is-the-murder-of-charlie-kirk-worth-worrying-over-more-than-the-murders-of-kids-in-schools/1022949.md?page=6)