UNASB Reacts to Charlie Kirk

We do not know the answers, but we're trying to figure it out together

Over the last few months, Unfortunately Not A Sound Bath (UNASB) club members have been familiarizing ourselves with Charlie Kirk and his powerful conservative activism group, Turning Point USA. Kirk was, without a doubt, one of the most influential people in right-wing, and in American politics. His assassination on September 10th is earth shattering and will shape politics and culture as we know it. (And if you don’t yet realize it, you soon will).

At UNASB, we are a diverse blend of left-leaning people with a common cause, trying to understand and process what those on the other end of the political spectrum think and say, in an increasingly siloed media environment. Beyond our significant partisan differences, we are humans who feel deep devastation every time an inevitable, senseless shooting takes place in our country.

In May, when Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband were murdered, this is precisely how we felt. And again in last month, when the Annunciation Catholic Church was attacked and 2 children were murdered. And once more later in the same day on September 10th, when students were shot in a high school in Colorado. Pick a shooting from the last two decades. Every time, we are collectively horrified by the normalization of violence and our seeming inability to prevent it.

So we want to be clear: the assassination of Charlie Kirk does not bring any of us joy. From one tragedy to the next, we know from these experiences, when the right-wing ecosystem locks in on something, they dig in. Hard.

While it’s easy to look away from the rhetoric of the right or dismiss their positions, in UNASB we’re attempting to understand why these arguments work, and how we – as left-leaning people and communicators – can be more effective in our policies and arguments. In fact, there was a lot to be learned from Kirk.

When the news of his shooting broke, our club quickly started talking to understand what messages were about to make their way across the internet and socials—and how we could respond to them. Before a person of interest was even named, right-wing influencers had already declared that ‘this is war’, and, as of this post, a person of interest has yet to be identified. Even in light of that, we remain hopeful (though, not optimistic) that we can build understanding and inroads with those who might not fully grasp how deep the political divide is, and persuade them to mobilize around building a strong pro-democracy movement.

Here’s a summary of our discussion and different thoughts from our membership:

COMPASSION, BEFORE SOLUTIONS

• We want to emphasize that we, as a collective, want thoughts and prayers AND action. Our message needs to lead with a plan so this won’t happen again to anyone in America. This is BECAUSE we believe in the right to free, peaceful discourse.

• One of our members has a burner Instagram that only follows right-wing creators, and the feed in the hours after the assassination were ENTIRELY “RIP Charlie” and “gone too soon”. The feed is entirely sympathy and mourning. (The comments are their own thing). There are ways to make a point and attract people without jumping to ‘me vs you’ or ‘right vs wrong’.

• There's a large group of people that are ready to hear something fresh, genuinely empathetic, and nonpartisan right now. Going right to gun safety feels stale and predictable. It's not just a shooting. It's political violence. There's a different dimension, and people feel that.

• There are many Americans who see themselves in the attack on Charlie, even if they don't know anything about his ideology. Talking about gun safety right off the rip just makes us seem like partisan political animals trying to score points. We've gotta lead with empathy and be more human than the trolls who exist to make every tragedy a partisan point scoring exercise.

THE RIGHT WILL ALWAYS PIVOT TO A SCAPEGOAT, LET’S PIVOT TO HUMAN-FIRST SOLUTIONS

In reality, gun control can reduce lethality and the number of fatalities, but it won’t end all gun violence and probably wouldn’t have stopped this assassination. That said, we’ve observed right wing media figures put forward “simple solutions” that aren’t aggressive enough to the epidemic at hand.

• Here, we want to appeal to sensible folks – not the ones who are on the verge of being radicalized. The issue is gun control, or lack thereof. Kirk was answering a question about mass shootings when he was shot.

• “Going high” has not been working for us. When the roles are reversed, the right is absolutely ruthless. We need to be more aggressive and demand gun reform. The message should be: 'gun violence legislation/gun control protects everyone not the right or the left'.

• A "solution" here is reframing. It's a way of catching the other side in a trap. The left agrees that Charlie Kirk's assassination was a tragedy and shouldn't happen again. Let's mobilize behind his death and introduce a bill in honor of him to make sure this doesn't happen again. If we are able to introduce this bill, we're putting the right in a corner if they don't support it.

• Adam Parkhomeneko even suggested that Democrats introduce a “Charlie Kirk Common Sense Gun Reform Bill” and force a vote on it. Without gun control there is no saving people from gun violence on either side.

• Don’t overthink it. While we need to be aligned on messaging, all flavors of response add value.

WATCH OUT FOR THE TECH RIGHT USING THIS TRAGEDY TO MAKE IT EASIER TO SPY ON US

• Blake Masters, a venture capitalist, former Senate candidate, and Peter Thiel protegé, jumped in almost immediately to uplift a call for congressional hearings and investigations into the “NGO/donor patronage network” that “enables and foments [left-wing violence]”. He posted this before any suspect or person of interest had been named. A few hours later, President Trump held a press conference where he echoed the same sentiment as Masters.

• Peter Thiel is actively funding the surveillance state that will be used to spy on and invade the privacy of all citizens (regardless of political party). People need to be warned about the surveillance state and the fact that Thiel’s bros are jumping in immediately to suggest a crackdown on organizations he disagrees with, with no cause.

• The most effective messaging in the last few months of politics has not been along traditional left vs right lines. It is about top vs. bottom. Charlie Kirk was not actually a billionaire or a politician - he was a pundit and right wing activist, who did happen to make a few million dollars. It’s important to take a step back and do a power analysis: Who actually benefits from political violence? There’s a very clear answer: Peter Thiel, Blake Masters, and anyone who profits off of the privatized surveillance state (i.e. Palantir) that will be used to crack down further on people’s freedoms. Most people, including MAGA, like freedom of speech and want to be able to freely speak without fear of political violence! But especially if the goal is to reach the moveable middle / persuadable universe. Only focusing on gun control might appease the base which is still worthwhile, but reaching folks in the middle might require something more empowering, like fighting back against a surveillance state.

While I wish I could say this is the exhaustive list about how to have effective conversations in the midst of a major political tragedy, this is unfortunately just a starting point, based on a big conversation among us Sound Bathers. Our ultimate goal is to use our learnings to have elevated conversations with the persuadable people in our lives. Let’s hope we can do it before the polarization makes it impossible.

If you want to talk through messaging challenges like this, and are ready to subject yourself to more right-wing content in an effort to understand what’s happening in the right-wing media ecosystem, join us in Unfortunately Not a Sound Bath. Our next cohort starts on September 29th.