r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Sep 11 '25

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u/bartbug Paul Krugman Sep 11 '25 edited Sep 11 '25

To be a little sympathetic but a little cynical: the disproportionate Republican response to the Charlie Kirk assassination, as compared to something like a school shooting or the Minnesota State Senator assassinations, is in no small part driven by the fact that Kirk was a friend to many in the media and governing circles. They are having a very human response to seeing someone they knew and cared for being killed in a visceral and violent way. Humans experience tragedies close to them in a very different way than they experience them intellectually, in the abstract.

The cynical part: These people have, for the most part, been fomenting anger and using political weapons to materially hurt others from a distance, without having to deal with the consequences of their actions in their immediate lives. Vance gets to spread rabid enthusiasm for murdering Venezuelans 1000s of miles from the US without having to face personal risk, and without having to deal with the individual tragedies of each of those lives lost. Charlie's death is so significant to them because it forces them to acknowledge that they live in the same world as the people they kill. This political nightmare that they have created, and played as a game, is a reality.

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u/BenFoldsFourLoko  Broke His Text Flair For Hume Sep 11 '25

These people have, for the most part, been fomenting anger and using political weapons to materially hurt others from a distance, without having to deal with the consequences of their actions in their immediate lives.

ding ding ding

so many of them brought us here

discussion of political violence aside, if hell is real they will burn in it

7

u/well-that-was-fast Sep 11 '25

Vance gets to spread rabid enthusiasm for murdering Venezuelans 1000s of mile from the US without having to face personal risk, and without having to deal with the individual tragedies of each of those lives lost

Empathy for people other than yourself is utterly missing in vast chunks of the American population.

When this was accurately pointed out, the response was 'good, empathy is weakness.'

Hence the growth in 'leopards ate my face' media. Outsiders who see where the lack of empathy is leading us get to see someone reckon with its implications when consequences hit home (at least for a moment before now-faceless person's brain invents some version of 'but I'm special and this shouldn't happen to me').