Killing in the name of… nothing

In a good and just society, it would have been possible to bury Charlie Kirk without either threatening mass violence toward his enemies or making light of his death with a furry sex meme. But America in 2025 did not remotely resemble a working society, let alone a civil one, and Kirk’s killing came prepackaged with its own desecrating shitposts.

There was, briefly, an attempt at a national mood of somberness. The president ordered flags across the nation to be lowered to half-staff. Politicians, celebrities, and other public figures — even those not aligned with Kirk on the right — rushed out with condolences and grief, painting completely …