The haunting reach of political violence online
As news spread Wednesday afternoon that right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk had been shot, many went to social media to learn more.
A quick scroll and anyone could see actual cellphone video of the moment Kirk was shot. The footage was from a distance, and really, one could only make out Kirk’s body going limp.
It didn’t take long, however, for a second video to come across people’s feeds — one with a much closer view of Kirk. This video was disturbingly graphic. Deeply unsettling. And it came without warning so that by the time a user realized what they were watching, they’d already been exposed to the horrific reality of what happened. Even those not looking for the video could have — and likely did — easily come across it.
It was hard to watch and impossible to forget.
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